The University of Karachi was on Wednesday restrained by the Sindh High Court
from holding supplementary examinations of MBBS final year’s surgery theory
paper without court permission.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi gave the interim
order on a petition of 114 final year students of five medical institutions,
four of them private concerns, who had failed in the final examination.
The students of the Liaquat National Medical College, Jinnah Medical Dental
College, Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry, Sir Syed College for
Medicine and local government-run Karachi Medical and Dental College moved the
court challenging their results in surgery theory paper.
The petitioner students, represented by Advocate Saify Ali Khan, impleaded the
vice chancellor, registrar, examination controller and dean of medicine faculty
of the university, initial and final paper setters, and heads of the departments
of the five medical colleges.
The bench that also comprised Justice Aziz-ur-Rehman issued notice to the
respondents directing them to submit their respective replies on the petition
and put off the hearing to Dec 24.
The petitioners’ counsel told the judges that the students had passed all their
theoretical and oral examination except the surgery theory paper. She said the
results of the impugned paper were announced with a delay of almost two months,
on Oct 21. The counsel said that only 277 of the 483 students, who had appeared
in the surgery theaory paper, were declared passed.
Advocate Saify Khan contended that the question paper of surgery theory was out
of syllabus and not in accordance with the ‘Table of Specification’ given by the
university.
She said the ‘Table of specification’ was duly approved by the university’s dean
of medicine and endorsed by the head of the department of surgery of different
medical institutions.
The counsel submitted that the marks sheets of the petitioner students would
become questionable if they appeared in the supplementary examination.
The petitioners asked the court to declare that surgery theory paper of 2014 was
irregular, vague and out of context.
They further requested the court to direct the authorities concerned to give 15
per cent compensatory marks as a right of the petitioners and not as concession.
The court was also told to restrain the respondent authorities from holding
supplementary paper of surgery theory for the final year students.