KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday issued notices to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the provincial health department and other respondents on a petition filed by candidates against not being allowed to keep question papers after the recent examination of the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT-2026-27).

A two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar also put the federal and provincial law officers on notice for Nov 10.

Citing the PMDC, Ministry of National Health Service, provincial health secretary, Universities & Boards Department, IBA Sukkur, Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) and others as respondents, petitioner Iqra and seven other candidates had petitioned the SHC.

They submitted that they were the residents of the provincial metropolis and had appeared in the MDCAT-2026-27 at the designated centres on Sept 20.

The counsel for petitioner Nawaz Dahri argued that after the conclusion of the examination, petitioners and other candidates had requested the management of the examination to allow them to keep question papers so their responses could be verified against the answer key, but they were allowed to do so.

However, he also submitted that the candidates were handed over only a carbon copy of answer sheets, but they had no question papers on the basis of which the official answer key would be checked.

Thereafter, the lawyer further contended that the IBA Sukkur had issued answer keys, but on a bare comparison with copies of response sheets available with petitioners and recognised textbooks and they found the published keys containing several apparent errors.

He maintained that despite the objections raised before the university concerned, it had termed the keys as correct without furnishing reasons or affording any candidate an opportunity to verify the disputed questions.

He also argued that the merit list and admission process were looming and if answer keys were not verified before such procedure, petitioners would suffer irreparable loss as even a few marks will materially affect their merit positions and prospects of admission for the current session.

The counsel further submitted that the PMDC Act, 2020 and regulations required that the admission test be conducted in a fair, merit-based and transparent manner whereas retention of question papers by the management coupled with a refusal to hear objections was inconsistent with such mandate.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2026