PMDC put on notice as DUHS challenges suspension of its dental college’s recognition

The Sindh High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on petitions of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) against the council’s decision to stop its Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Institute of Oral Health Sciences from giving further admissions as well as against the delay in recognising the Dow Dental College.

Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Institute of Oral Health Sciences and the Dow Dental College had challenged the council’s decision in which it stopped the college and the institute from offering more admissions for the 2018 academic session till recognition and rectifying defects respectively.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the PMDC had not yet issued any order for the withdrawal of recognition of the college and the institute, and no comprehensive report of surprise inspections had been available with the council.

He said the petitioner could demonstrate the fulfillment of all the requirements to the PMDC inspection team, but as per the impugned letter an inspection would be carried out after six months.

He submitted that the process of admissions had been initiated and the NTS test would be held on October 28 and in case of the stopping of admissions, the PMDC would remove the name of Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Institute of Oral Health Sciences from the merit list of colleges for new admissions.

The counsel further said the petitioners had completed all the codal formalities with regard to the completion of the recognition process. A federal law officer submitted that a letter to the PMDC had been issued for filing comments on the petition and the reply was awaited.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar repeated a notice to the PMDC through a sessions court in Islamabad and adjourned the hearing till November 1. The court in meantime continued the interim order observing that the petitioners may be allowed to join the admission process, but no admission of any new student would be finalised by the petitioners till its final order.

Plea against reward money

The Sindh High Court issued notices to the advocate general of the province, the prosecutor general and others on a petition of a woman against the announcement of reward money against her son.

The petitioner, Nooran Bibi, submitted that police had falsely implicated her son in criminal cases in which he was either granted bail or acquitted by the trial court. She said the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police registered some more cases against him by declaring him an absconder and recommended the police high ups to place the name of her son in watch list and announce reward money on him.

She submitted that government’s decision to place the name of his son on a watch list and the announcement of reward money was without lawful authority. The court issued notices to the provincial law officer and called their comments on December 4.