LHC issues notice to PMC in plea against 30-day MDCAT

LAHORE: Justice Muzammil Akhtar Shabbir of the Lahore High Court on Monday issued a notice to the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and sought a reply on a writ petition seeking cancellation of ongoing Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) for not being held on the same day in violation of law.

A senior lawyer, Agha Intizar Ali Imran, appeared on behalf of the petitioner-student Hadiya Khalid and contended that the petitioner appeared in MDCAT but had to face several complications, hurdles and illegalities during the test and could not secure the desired result despite being an exceptional student.

He argued that under the mandatory provision of Section 18 (1) of the Pakistan Medical Commission Act, 2020(PMCA), MDCAT was to be held “on the same day” as “a single admissions test” in order to provide equal opportunity to all the candidates/ students. But the PMC is holding the same under the schedule from August 30 to September 30, which is a sheer violation of Article 4 of Constitution and the Section 18 (1) of the PMCA.

To substantiate his arguments, Agha cited a judgment of LHC in “Abwa Knowledge PVT case wherein the court ruled, “The authority shall conduct annually on a date approved by the council as per standards approved by the board a single admission test which shall be mandatory requirement for all students seeking admission to medical or dental undergraduate programme.”

He said those students who had been asked to appear in the beginning of September-2021 will be able to find only the span of one month for the preparation of the said “Entry Test” whereas those will be lucky to have the chance to appear in the end of September-2021 will enjoy the length of almost two months for the preparation which is discrimination in contravention to Article 25 of the Constitution.

Moreover, “Out of syllabus questions” are being carried by the papers. In some papers, the fraction of “out of syllabus questions” is up to 25-30 and some papers carry only 5-10 segments of the same, the lawyer pleaded. He said previously when the MDCAT was conducted across the Punjab “on the same day” as “a single admissions test” the same question paper was given to all the students which eliminated chances of discrimination. The petitioner requested the court to cancel the MDCAT, reschedule and hold it on the same day as required by Section 18 of the PMCA2020.