SCP Dismisses Petitions of Self-Financing Medical Students Seeking Normal Fees

The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) dismissed over 17 petitions filed by self-financing medical students seeking a court order compelling their colleges to charge them regular fees.

A three-member bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Umar Ata Bandial, heard the petitions of the students. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Faez Isa were also part of the bench.

During the hearing, the lawyer representing the students argued that the Punjab government had announced that the admissions on the 76 seats, reserved for self-financing, will be based on open merit, and added that only international students and overseas Pakistanis are now eligible for admission on those seats.

He requested the court that the students be charged the same fee as those on open merit. However, Justice Shah clarified that the government had not terminated the self-finance scheme itself.

Meanwhile, Justice Qazi Faez Isa stated that petitions cannot be submitted unless the people are harmed by the government’s actions, and he asked the grieving party if the government had harmed them.

In response to Justice Isa’s question, the lawyer stated that he merely wanted a court order directing the medical institutions to charge the open merit fees from the students and that he did not want the Punjab government’s notification to be revoked. However, the CJP contended that the students were not named on the merit list.

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) lawyer reasoned that even students with 85 percent scores sometimes failed to acquire admissions on open merit, and to the contrary, self-financing students having only 35 percent marks were admitted to medical colleges.

Source: Pro Pakistani