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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Govt restrained from announcing fresh date for medical colleges’ entry test

By Jamal Khurshid
November 24, 2017

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday restrained the provincial government from announcing a new date to hold fresh entry tests for admissions to public sector medical colleges and universities.


The direction came on the petition of 140 medical students against the government’s RECENT notification cancelling results of the tests held by the National Testing Service for entry to public sector medical colleges and universities.


The petitioners maintain that after announcement of the results, rumours of the NTS question paper having been leaded a day before the test started doing the rounds on social media. They submitted that the health department without any lawful authority or reason gave benefit of doubt to the rumours and constituted an inquiry committee to look into the matter which was beyond the department’s scope and jurisdiction.


Petitioners’ counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan submitted the provincial government has no authority to cancel NTS test results. Secretary health, Fazalullah Pechuho, submitted that entry tests will be conducted again and inquiry will be completed by the first week of


December.


On the other hand, the counsel for the NTS maintained that an inquiry was conducted within the organisation too but no official was found guilty of such negligence. A division bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, directed the provincial law officer and the health department to file paragraph-wise comments on the petition along with the inquiry report on November 29. Till then the court directed the provincial government to not announce a new date for the test.


Police rules case


The provincial advocate general was directed by the SHC to file his comments on civil society representatives’ application seeking implementation of the court’s order about ensuring that rules of police transfers, postings and tenure were enforced.


Waiving the notice on the application, the provincial law officer sought time to seek instruction from the Sindh government, following which SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, directed the AG to file comments by November 30.


Petitioners Karamat Ali and others submitted that the SHC in its September 7 judgment had quashed the transfer and posting notifications of senior police officers issued by the government on July 7, 2017.


The court had observed that all similar notifications were unlawful as the power of transferring and posting police officers at all levels, inclusive of Police Service of Pakistan officers serving in the province, vest in the Sindh Inspector General of Police, and that the power is to be exercised by him in accordance with rules or orders.


The petitioners maintained that the court had directed the IG Sindh to prepare a draft of rules within 30 days, setting out the manner in which he (and/or the police hierarchy acting through him) is to exercise the power.


The court had observed that rules must also, inter alia, set out the period or term that is ordinarily to be served at any level or post by a police officer so as to ensure that the rule laid down by the Supreme Court in the Anita Turab case shall apply in relation thereto.


The court had directed for the draft rules to be sent to the provincial government (here meaning the provincial cabinet) and also, to ensure transparency, posted prominently on the homepage of the Sindh Police’s website.


As per the petitioners, the Sindh cabinet did not implement the judgment in letter and spirit and tried to remove the IG Sindh in order to delay and avoid the enactment of the draft rules framed by the IG Sindh. They requested the court to direct the chief secretary and the IG Sindh to file a report regarding implementation of the court’s directives.


Bails dismissed


The SHC dismissed bail applications of 15 accused involved in the Pak Punjab Cooperative Housing Society land fraud case.


Petitioners Riaz Ilyas, Sajid Ali Khan and others; builder, ex-secretary of the society and officials of the provincial cooperation department respectively, were booked by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on charges of illegally occupying plots allotted to 358 people in the housing society located in Sector 24-A of Scheme 33.


Petitioners were accused of usurping the plots by cancelling genuine allotments, enrolling new people illegally through the platform of a bogus society (that included names of employees of the Sindh Workers Welfare Board) and illegally selling and transferring the society’s plots to various people.


The anti-graft agency alleges that private builders constructed various illegal housing and commercial projects on the occupied land.