JOINT ADMISSION COMMITTEE through Chairman/ Principal, Khyber Medical
This matter involves a series of civil petitions concerning the admission process for medical colleges in Pakistan. The core legal question presented before the Supreme Court was whether the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (I.B.C.C.) possessed the legal competence to issue equivalence certificates that converted student grades into marks for the purpose of medical college admissions, or whether the admission criteria and formula established in the respective prospectuses of the medical colleges were the sole determinants of student entitlement. The Court granted leave to appeal to examine this issue of administrative authority and the hierarchy of admission regulations. Pending the final adjudication of these petitions, the Court issued an interim order directing that the cases of the students involved in the petitions be decided on their merits, specifically requiring that the equivalence certificates issued by the I.B.C.C. be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the Court ordered that students meeting the criteria established by these certificates be granted provisional admission to the medical colleges, subject to the final outcome of the proceedings.
- Is the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen legally competent to issue equivalence certificates converting student grades into marks for medical college admissions?
- Does the formula evolved by medical colleges in their prospectuses supersede the equivalence certificates issued by the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen?
- Can provisional admission be granted to students based on equivalence certificates pending the final decision of the Supreme Court?
ORDER
' SH. IJAZ NISAR, J.---By means of this order we propose to dispose of the undermentioned Civil Petitions together, as in all of them common question relating to admission in the Medical Colleges is involved:--
1. Civil Petition No,634 of 1997
2. Civil Petition No,372 of 1998
3. Civil Petition No,373 of 1998
4. Civil Petition No,376 of 1998
5. Civil Petition No,377 of 1998
6. Civil Petition No,378 of 1998
7. Civil Petition No,379 of 1998
8. Civil Petition No,380 of 1998
9. Civil Petition No,381 of 1998
2. Leave is, inter alia, granted to consider as to whether Inter Board Committee of Chairman (I.B.C.C.) was legally competent to issue equivalence certificate converting the grades of the students into marks for the purpose of granting admission to them in the Medical Colleges, or that the formula evolved by the Medical Colleges as mentioned in their respective prospectus was to determine the entitlement of the students to secure admission in the Medical Colleges.
3. Meanwhile, it is directed that the cases of each student, who is party to the abovenoted petitions, shall be decided on merit keeping in view the equivalence certificate issued by I.B.C.C. And subject to coming upto that criteria shall be given provisional admission.