LAHORE - The Lahore High Court has annulled Pakistan Medical Dental Council (PMDC) quota-based policy and ruled that the hardworking students should not be discouraged.
After hearing the arguments on Wednesday, Justice Ayesha Malik of the LHC observed that it was the violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. Sadia and Asma Javed and others, candidates for MBBS, had filed the petitions through their counsel. They submitted that they had secured good marks in FSc to get admission in MBBS but had been refused the admission. They said that they were deprived of the admission as the University of Health Sciences secretly imposed a quota based admission policy under which 50 per cent seats were allocated to male and female each.
The petitioner contended that the UHS got an advertisement published in newspapers announcing that the admission in MBBS would be done on the basis of open merit. The female students applied but only five days before the last date for submission of admission forms, the policy was secretly changed, they submitted.
They further said the university did this only to discourage the female students from getting admission in MBBS because, normally, female students secured 62 seats in open merit policy.
The counsel said that the SC had already ruled that MBBS admission should not be based on quota system; rather it should be based on open merit. They prayed the court to restrain the UHS from imposing quota policy and depriving competent female students from medical education.
Plea admitted for hearing: The Lahore High Court Wednesday admitted for hearing the petition seeking directions for the Election Commission not to allocate electoral symbols to Pakistan Muslims League-N, Pakistan Peoples Party and Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam (F) for not holding intra-party elections. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the LHC heard the petition as an objection case and removed the objection to the petition raised by the registrar office. The judge directed the office to fix it before any available bench.
Advocate Ghohar Nawaz Sindhu filed the petition and submitted that all three above parties could not hold intra-party elections. The petitioner said the parties were violating the political order and it was against the spirit of democratic system.
Political Parties Order 2011’s section 11 says that all political parties are bound to hold intra-party elections, he pointed out.
He prayed the courts to restrain Nawaz Sharif, Bilawal Zardari Bhuttho and Maulana Fazlur Rehman from chairing party meetings. He further prayed the court to direct the ECP to stop allocation of electoral symbols to political parties mentioned above for this violation.