Court seeks inquiry report of MDCAT paper leak

LAHORE :The Lahore High Court Monday sought a report of an inquiry conducted on the directions of the Punjab government into allegations of leaking of Medical & Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) paper for 2017 admissions. 

Justice Shahid Waheed was hearing petitions filed by the students who appeared in the MDCAT conducted by University of Health Sciences (UHS) on August 20 for admission in MBBS.

The judge had already restrained the UHS from announcing the result of the test. During the hearing, counsel of the UHS stated before the court that the allegation regarding leaking of the test’s question paper had not been proved. He said the social media’s posts relied upon by the petitioners happened to be uploaded after the holding of the test.

A provincial law officer told the court that an inquiry committee formed by the government also found no merits in the allegations of the paper’s leak. When asked about the inquiry report, he said the report had been submitted to the chief minister. At this, the judge adjourned hearing till Sept 25 and directed the law officer to present the report of the inquiry. The petitioners had argued that the question paper of the Medical & Dental College Admission Test for 2017 was already leaked on social media by a teacher at private college/academy in connivance with the authorities at UHS. They said the teacher who leaked the paper also confessed, on his Facebook account, to have sold the paper to a number of students for Rs50,000 each.

They said career of a large number of students had been put at risk by the criminals involved in leaking of the paper. The petitioners said thousands of other students would suffer irreparable loss if the leaked paper was not declared void and the UHS was not ordered to hold the MDCAT exam afresh.