PHC maintains stay in undergraduate admissions at University of Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday maintained stay order till October 2 on admissions of the undergraduate programme at the 43 departments of the University of Peshawar and directed the university to submit results of the two NTS tests before the next hearing.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim directed Waseemuddin Khattak, legal advisor to the university, to ensure submission of the result of first and second NTS tests for the admissions and of those candidates who appeared first time in the second test.

The court also directed the university to submit the result of those candidates who appeared in the second test after failing in the first test for the admissions in the university and passed the test. The court was hearing a writ petition filed by senior lawyer Muhammad Isa Khan against holding of second NTS test for admissions to the undergraduate programme at the 43 departments. During the hearing, the legal advisor of the university submitted results of both the tests. He said that only four candidates of the first test appeared in the second NTS test. Of them, two had failed and two passed in the first test. He also requested the court not to prolong the stay order on the admissions as it would affect the academic year of the students.

To the court's query, he explained that the second test was conducted on the demand and insistence of thousands of students' parents for securing future of their children after the ETEA entrance test for medical colleges was cancelled twice and delayed for months.

However, the petitioner questioned the submitted results and claimed that many candidates including some failed children of employees of the university in the first tests had also appeared in the second tests and passed the test.

The petitioner also stated that the second purpose of the test was to collect more funds from the students as the registration fee for the test is Rs1600. He requested the court to direct the university to hand over both the tests' results to him to properly check the candidates' names and position in both the tests. The bench directed the university to submit clear and separate results of both the tests as per the court directions before the next hearing.