KARACHI  -  The Sindh High Court directed the authorities to hold afresh the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) within four weeks after a probe committee unanimously concluded that the entire test procedure was compromised. The SHC ruled that the retake must be carried out on the same day across the province by IBA Karachi and IBA Sukkur.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito also declared that no fresh fees of any nature will be charged from the students/candidates as they have already paid such dues. It asked the Sindh government to meet all expenditures required to retake MDCAT and to hire the services of IBA Karachi/IBA Sukkur for such a purpose. The bench passed these directives while disposing of a set of petitions filed by various candidates asking the SHC to declare the MDCAT held on Sept 22 in the province as null and void as well as to issue a directive for respondents to retake the exam.

At the outset of the hearing on Saturday, the probe committee, notified on the orders of the SHC, submitted its recommendations. An official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also filed a report in which it initially named Dr Sajid Mehmood Alvi and Dr Vinod Kumar as suspects. The FIA in its report disclosed that the suspects had sharing the leaked MDCAT paper in different WhatsApp groups on Sept 21 around 14 hours before the exam. It said that around 75 per cent of the questions of the test paper were leaked before its commencement. It added that the involvement of over 42 staff members in printing, binding and sorting process of the test paper over a 10-day period significantly weakened the security surrounding the test paper and its contents.

The report also said that the data of 1,186 students, who scored 187 or higher in MDCAT 2024, was analysed and compared with their percentage scores in board exams and the resulting correlation coefficient of 0.06 indicates a very weak positive correlation between the MDCAT scores and the percentage marks obtained in the board exams. The bench noted that as per reports filed in court, the committee held its meetings and took all necessary measures including the use of digital tools by the cybercrime wing of FIA as well as evidence through various means including freezing of the mobile phones and recovering such data. It said that the committee found that the entire conduct of the MDCAT organised by the Dow University Health Sciences (DUHS) in the province was compromised at all the given stages. The bench in its order also said that the committee unanimously concluded that sufficient evidence had come on record and there was no other option except to retake the examination. It said that all government representatives as well as officials of DUHS and PMDC “have collectively agreed that this is a fit case of a retake of the subject entry test”. “Accordingly, the Secretary, Universities and Boards Department, Secretary Health Department, and Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh, shall ensure that the retake of the MDCAT examination is conducted within four weeks from today,” the bench ruled.

The bench noted: “DUHS has been conducting the test for the last two years with having no question bank above than 400 questions and if this validation was permitted for the recent test, which will be conducted by a reputable testing institute with a substantial question bank, fresh candidates will be penalised for no fault of their own.

“Accordingly, for this retake test only, this rule will not penalise the fresh candidates and the validation of last year’s result will not be considered for this year’s admissions while the procedure provided for the reduction of 10pc of marks for improver candidates must not be applied in the present retake and therefore the repeaters shall be considered as fresh candidates in order to safeguard their basic rights and prevent any prejudice against them,” the bench ruled.

“The admission test to be conducted following the relevant guidelines framed by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and from the syllabus taught by the Sindh Textbook Board and other boards of the federation and universities in Sindh while keeping in view that there are different boards in the province with varying syllabi. The MDCAT must be based on the syllabus being taught by the government of Sindh to private and public sector institutions without any discrimination and with structure, weightage and difficulty levels given under MDCAT Curriculum 2023,” the order said.

The bench also noted that “it has been established on record that 18 colleges and Aga Khan University along with other private universities are exempted from the MDCAT test, which is contrary to the law and basic principles governing equality of citizens as provided under Article 25 of the Constitution,” it noted.

It directed the PMDC to revisit and amend the law with regard to validation of tests and must ensure that there must not be any discrimination between public and private universities.

The bench further ordered the provincial government and the PMDC to must ensure that they shall depute vigilance committees for all the test retake venues across the province.

It also asked the probe committee to continue its mandate and fix liability on the delinquent individuals involved in this serious crime and the FIA inquiry must also be completed within two months in accordance with the law including an earlier inquiry pending against last year paper leak in the MDCAT.

Earlier, various candidates through their lawyers Shoaib Khatiyan, Nabeel Ahmed Khan and others filed four identical petitions impugning the result of MDCAT.