— Admission policy of Pakistan Medical Commission — MDCAT Benchmark Dispute between PMC and Sindh Cabinet — Scope — The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) had challenged a decision made by the Sindh Cabinet in a meeting — This decision involved lowering the benchmark for the Medical & Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) from 65% to 50% for admission into private and public medical colleges & universities in the province of Sindh — The Sindh Cabinet issued four notifications instructing universities to begin the admission process in MBBS and BDS programs by considering candidates who had achieved a 50% score in MDCAT 2021 as qualified — The Advocate General of Sindh, contesting the petitioner’s case, argued against the legitimacy of the law, highlighting its imperfections and incongruities with the quality and syllabus of pre-medical education across provinces — He contended that setting a benchmark of 65% for admission without clear rationale was discriminatory and disregarded the varying educational standards in each province — High Court observed that there was no provincial law empowering the Sindh government to regulate admissions in medical colleges post the 18th amendment — According to federal legislative lists, the federal government holds the authority to frame laws to maintain or elevate standards in higher education institutions, including determining eligibility for professions such as medicine and law — The court concluded that post the 18th amendment, executive authority over such matters shifted entirely to the federation, rendering provincial actions on the subject invalid — Based on this analysis, the court declared the notifications issued by the Sindh Cabinet void ab initio, as they lacked lawful authority and were deemed to have no legal effect. [2024 CLS 6 = 2022 CLC 1848 = 2024 CLC 53]

— Admission policy of Pakistan Medical Commission — MDCAT Benchmark Dispute between PMC and Sindh Cabinet — Scope — The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) had challenged a decision made by the Sindh Cabinet in a meeting — This decision involved lowering the benchmark for the Medical & Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) from 65% to 50% for admission into private and public medical colleges & universities in the province of Sindh — The Sindh Cabinet issued four notifications instructing universities to begin the admission process in MBBS and BDS programs by considering candidates who had achieved a 50% score in MDCAT 2021 as qualified — High Court observed that as per the criteria set for admissions, the weightage attached to the MDCAT score was 50% whereas the weightage of the HSSC/FSC and SSC/Matric or Equivalent are 40% and 10% respectively — Ergo, if the arbitrary measure seeking to supplant the standard of the PMC with the lesser one of the Provincial Government were allowed to sustain, it would enable candidates scoring between the range of 50% to 64.99% in the MDCAT, who otherwise would not have qualified, to nonetheless be considered for admission — That, in turn, would give rise to the prospect and likelihood of distortion of the eventual admission results to the detriment of those who had attained the higher standard set by the PMC, so as to deprive them of their due right to admission — For that reason too, the notifications could not stand — Constitution petition was allowed accordingly. [2024 CLS 6 = 2022 CLC 1848 = 2024 CLC 53]