MUHAMMAD UMAR WAHID and otherss vs UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

' NASIR-UL-MULK, J.---By a common judgment the Lahore High Court on 10-11-2005 dismissed fourteen Writ Petitions filed by students of Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur questioning the orders of the Principal of the College disallowing them to appear in the examination of the next higher class on the ground that they had not cleared the subjects of the previous classes. The petitioners, seven in number, who have filed this petition for leave to appeal were studying in the first year M.B.,B.S., were admitted to the College in the Session 2003-2004 and had impugned order of the Principal dated 6-6-2005, which specifically related to them. The High Court had for the dismissal of the writ petitions relied upon Regulation No,3 of the Statutes and Regulations for M.B.B.S. First, second, third and final professional, examinations, made by the University of Health Sciences, Lahore published by notification on 14-7-2004, which reads:-- "A candidate who passes in one or more subjects but fails in the annual examination shall, if he/she so desires, provisionally be allowed to join second year M.B.B.S. Class till the commencement of supplementary examination. The candidate, however, shall have to pass the failed subjects in this supplementary examination failing which he/she shall be detained in the first year. Under no circumstances a candidate shall be promoted to the second year M.B.B.S. Till he/she has previously passed all the subjects in the First Professional Part-I Examination."

2. Mr. Sardar Muhammad Rafiq Khan, Advocate Supreme Court appearing for the petitioners contended that the above Regulation violated the corresponding provisions in the Regulations of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM & DC) and thus the same must give way to the later.

The learned counsel further cited a judgment of the Peshawar High Court in Alaptagin v. Principal, Saidu Sharif Medical College, Swat and others (PLD 2004 Peshawar 307) and contended that the first professional M.B.B S. Has been split into two parts, Part-I and Part-II, and the two parts together shall be considered as one class for the purpose of the bar regarding the clearance of the subjects of one class before being promoted to the next higher class.

3. The relevant provisions on which reliance is placed by the learned counsel for the petitioners is contained in clause (3) of section IV of the P.M,D.C. Regulations dated 22-3-1998 which states that "No student can be promoted to the higher classes unless he passes all the subjects of the previous classes". In Alaptagin case (ibid) the Peshawar High Court had, while interpreting a provision in the prospectus issued by the Provincial Health Department for regulation of admission and examination in Medical Colleges, held that in the light of the above Regulation of P.M.D.C.

Promotion to Part II of the first professional examination cannot be withheld on account of the students failure to pass the subjects of Part I examination. The said judgment turned on the interpretation of the relevant provision in the prospectus and cannot be cited as laying down a general principle. In the present case Regulation No,3 of the Statutes and Regulations of the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, dated 14-7-2004, reproduced above, which admittedly is applicable to all the Medical Colleges falling under its authority, in unequivocal terms imposes a bar on the promotion of students to the second year until all the subjects in the first professional Part I examination have been cleared. The said provision is not only not in conflict with the restrictions imposed by the P.M.D.C., but is a step further in achieving the objects for which the provision was incorporated, namely, to strengthen the academic competency of the students.

Finding no error in the conclusion drawn by the High Court no case for leave to appeal is made out.

The petition is dismissed and leave decline.