ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) in a petition filed by candidates challenging the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT).

A single bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the petition filed by candidates.

Advocate Moazzam Habib, during hearing, alleged that PMC violated rules while awarding the contract to a company.

He requested the court to declare the exam null and void.

According to the PMC Conduct of Examinations Regulations 2021, the syllabus of the MDCAT exam shall not be bound to any textbook or HSSC board syllabus and the questions in each exam paper will be randomly selected from the examination question bank.

No person shall have the right to object to the questions contained in the examination or the correct answers. Moreover, a company SOAR Testing and Evaluation Platform (SMC-private) Limited, which had won the bidding of the online MDCAT tests, was registered with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) well after the due date of filing bids.

The report of PPRA, available with Dawn, stated that the award of contract to private company was in violation of rules. It also declared, against the stance of PMC, that the amount received from candidates was public fund.

No official of PMC was available to comment over the report.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2021