KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday dismissed two petitions filed by dozens of candidates against re-conducting of the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) as the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) also supported the retake of the test.

The SHC allowed the authorities concerned to go ahead with the MDCAT exams to be held afresh on Nov 19.

The petitioners moved the SHC impugning a notification issued by the secretary of health department on Oct 7 for re-conducting of MDCAT on Nov 19 while another group of students had also approached the SHC to become interveners and pleaded for dismissal of the petitions.

The two-judge bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi turned down both the petitions after examining the record and hearing arguments from all the parties cornered.

Authorities given the go-ahead to conduct test afresh on Nov 19

Shahab Sarki representing the petitioners in one of the pleas also asked the bench to grant more time to candidates for preparations and extend the date of MDCAT.

However, the bench advised him to approach the authorities concerned in this regard.

The counsel for the PMDC, Zeeshan Abdullah, informed the SHC that the council had supported the retake of MDCAT since allegation about leakage of the test paper was established in an inquiry.

The additional advocate general, Ali Safdar Depar, also argued that around 40,000 candidates had been affected due to the paper leak and the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) had been authorised to retake MDCAT exam.

Mr Sarki argued that the culprits behind the leaking of the paper must be brought to justice.

The lawyers for petitioners asserted that allegations of paper leakage had not established in the first inquiry conducted by the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU).

Justice Abbasi remarked that the matter was properly investigated and it also came before the provincial cabinet while such reports had also been placed before the court.

On the recommendation of a fact-finding committee, the Sindh cabinet on Oct 12 cancelled the MDCAT taken on Sept 10 by the JSMU and decided to conduct the same afresh on Nov 19 through the DUHS.

The bench was informed that allegations of paper leak forced the government to order an inquiry and the

probe body found that the MDCAT paper was in fact leaked four to five hours before the test. Over 40,000 students from across the province had appeared in the test.

Earlier, the counsel for the interveners had argued that the petition was misconceived and not maintainable for the reason that the petitioners did not have any vested right to seek a declaration with regard to their admissions on the basis of merely appearing in the entry test.

The lawyer also contended that under similar circumstances an identical petition was also filed before the Peshawar High Court which was dismissed on Oct 3 and a copy of same was also placed on record.

Citing the ministry of national health services, PMDC, provincial secretaries of health and education departments, JSMU, DUHS and others as respondents, the petitioners submitted that they had passed the test and expressed their grievance against withholding of the result of MDCAT-2023 held on Sept 10.

They further argued that on the basis of mere allegation about leakage of the test paper and in order to accommodate their dear ones, the Sindh government was attempting to undo the earlier test without the approval of the PMDC.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2023