In a big decision, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered recompilation of merit lists of the students who remained deprived of admissions in medical colleges, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The LHC was hearing the petition filed by Fatima Nadeem and others against the University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore’s administration for denying admissions to 27 students, including her, on technical grounds.

Barrister Haroon Dougal and other lawyers appeared on behalf of the petitioner.

In his order, Justice Shahid Jameel Khan wrote that it was the responsibility of the courts to protect the fundamental rights even of those citizens who had not approached them for the purpose.   

The decision further read that the applications of 27 students for inclusion in the merit list with improved marks were rejected without any justification by the university’s administration, and, therefore, the university was directed to include these students’ names on the merit list.    

Furthermore, it went on to add, the technical grounds raised by the UHS while denying admissions to these students were against the constitution.

The petitioners had argued that they had filed their online applications on the basis of the original results of the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC). They further said the online system was not allowing them for substitution of original marks with improved marks, the cutoff date for which was February 6.

Reporter: Malik Ashraf