1. SARDAR MUHAMMAD RAZA, J.---Miss Ghazala Quader daughter of Fazal Quader from Zaryab Colony Peshawar City since the time she was a minor girl shifted to United Kingdom and received her entire education there in united Kingdom upto the level of General Certificate of Education (A level) and General Certificate of Secondary Education. Thereafter, when she came had to Pakistan her level of education was equated with Intermediate, Pre-medical, Pre-engineering by Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (hereinafter to be referred to as (IBCC). The same Committee after such equivalence determined her marks of Matric as 621/850 and that of F.Sc. as 813/1100.
2. 2.Getting through this process of equation and equivalence, she applied for admission to 1st Year M.B.,B.S. in Khyber Medical College, Peshawar/Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad for current session 1996-97. She also participated in the newly introduced entry test in N.-W.F.P. and qualified the same by securing 527 marks attaining eligibility to such admission which was eventually refused because, applying the formula in the prospectus, the Joint Admission Committee had reduced her total marks of F.Sc. from 813 to 715.
3. 3.Calling such action to be unlawful, without jurisdiction, the exercise of excess jurisdiction, harsh and discriminatory; Miss Ghazala Quader has challenged the same by invoking extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 199 of the Constitution.
4. 4.With the , able assistance of Qazi Muhammad Anwar, advocate for the petitioner, Mr. Riaz Ahmed Khan learned Assistant Advocate-General on behalf of Provincial Government and Mr. Muhammad Ismail Qureshi, Advocate on behalf of Joint Admission Committee, we were led to decide the question as to which of the two Agencies i,e, IBCC and Marks Conversion Committee of Joint Admission Committee had the lawful, justiciable, reasonable and valid authority qua the conversion of marks obtained by a candidate from abroad.
5. 5.Inter Board Committee of Chairmen is a creation of Federal Supervision of Curricula, Text Books and Maintenance of Standard of Education Act, 1976, whereas the Marks Conversion Committee of the Joint Admission Committee of Khyber Medical College and Ayub Medical College is a creation of their own prospectus, the status whereof is that of Rules or Regulations so framed under the authority of Medical Colleges (Governing Bodies Ordinance) (XIII of 1961).
6. The view of the petitioner's side was that IBCC was the sole authority to make proper conversion of marks while the respondents view was that it was the marks Conversion Committee of the Medical College itself. We also had the opportunity of going through the detailed para-wise comments of the Chairman Joint Admission Committee whose stance was only to the effect that IBCC had the authority to issue equivalence certificate but no authority to resort to the conversion of marks and that the marks of the petitioner were rightly converted by the respondents Committee in accordance with the formula laid down in the prospectus of 1996-97 itself. No other factual controversy was raised regarding the level of education of the petitioner and the subjects that she happened to be taught in the United Kingdom.
7. 6.Leaned counsel for the respondents vehemently refuted the petitioner's claim saying that the conversion of marks is resorted to in every Province in Pakistan by the concerned Conversion Marks Committees and hence it is not discrimination as metted Out to the petitioner alone. On the basis of information received from Deputy Secretary IBCC learned counsel for petitioner furnished an affidavit to the effect that all the Medical Colleges in Pakistan accept the Conversion of Marks Certificate issued by IBCC but for the Medical Colleges in N.-W.F.P.. To this a counter-affidavit was filed by the Principal Khyber Medical College/Chairman Joint Admission Committee supported by letters from Principals of other Provinces that conversion of marks done by IBCC is not accepted by them. It appears that no uniform policy exists in the country and every Organization has made it a point of their own honour, IBCC claims to be the sole authority while the Medical College/Colleges have assumed jurisdiction qua the conversion of marks alone fully surrendering to the effect that the power of equivalence rests with the IBCC but the same remains confined to the equation of levels of education, home and abroad.
8. 7.The matter requires to be settled in the light of objective principles of uniformity and not in view of the personal egoes of different Organization in the Provinces as well as in the Centre. While visualizing the situation having arisen before us, we feel confronted with numerous anomalous situations that lead to nowhere.
9. 8.The marks of a candidate obtained in any examination are fixed and non-variable, therefore, these should be fixed once for all and determined by one authority.
10. 9.Marks obtained by a candidate are accepted universally by all the Institutions in Pakistan, whether educational or otherwise, therefore, such marks should emanate from a Body that exercises jurisdiction over whole of Pakistan. IBCC is a Committee constituted by Federal Government and hence exercises a wide jurisdiction as compared to Marks Conversion Committee constituted in each Province and that too through their own prospectus.
11. 10.The stance taken by the Joint Admission Committee/respondents, if accepted, is bound to create confusion and would be fantastically chaotic, if a foreign qualified candidate on coming to Pakistan resorts to two different Medical or Engineering Colleges or Universities of different Provinces obviously, he is most likely, rather bound, to be granted different marks not only in different Universities but in all different Institutions of all different Universities. In such eventuality, one candidate would be rushing around from pillar to post carrying different marks in his hands and cursing the moment when he entered the motherland.
12. 11.Another dilenunatic situation would be faced by two students coming from the same educational Institutions in the foreign country but resorting to admission in Pakistan either in two different Universities or in two different Institutions of the University. Both are most likely to be granted different marks in view of the subjective approach of each Institution. One may be happy in one University and the other may not in the other. This also requires that there should be an.
13. Institution of overall jurisdiction throughout the country whose conversion of marks should be accepted universally by every Institution. whether educational or otherwise or whether Governmental or non-Governmental. This would eliminate all chances of discrimination and being dealt with by different Organization and Institutions differently.
14. 12.It is not at all necessary that a student coming from abroad must apply for admission to a Medical or Engineering College. There is every likelihood that he might resort to the profession of Banking. In that case too, there should be some authority whose conversion of marks should be accepted alike throughout the country.
15. 13.The Joint Admission Committee/Respondents accept the authority of IBCC so far as the equating of levels of status, home versus Abroad, are concerned but they do not accept their authority qua conversion of marks. This is another quality of approach that we stand confronted with. Accepting one action as valid and refuting the other as invalid is tantamount to defying the whole authority of IBCC in totality.
16. 14.When IBCC equates the level of studies, it does so with the opinion of qualified experts on the subjects who are supposed to be well acquainted with the kind and the levels of standards maintained abroad. They are also supposed to be well-acquainted with different grades like (A + - A - B + - B - C etc, etc) allocated to a student in each subject abroad. Keeping in view the standard of Education maintained in our own Country, their job is to equate each level of grading abroad to our own levels of marking. If we keep in view the different modes of equating required to be brought under consideration, we realise that practically there is no difference between equating the levels and conversion of marks. Both have common criteria. If we accept IBCC to be sufficiently qualified to determine equivalence of levels, we are left with no reasons to refute their qualification to determine Conversion of Marks.
17. 15.It would be nothing but resorting to double standards, the victims whereof we are as a Nation as a whole. We earnestly believe that Rules 28 and 45 of the Prospectus 1996-97 operate to create a serious anomaly. That these give rise to double standards, lead to chaotic situations and hence are unreasonable.
18. 16.A similar anomaly as well as discrimination was once created by Rule 18 of the Prospectus of Bolan Medical College which required 12 years stay in the Province of Balochistan for eligibility to admission. The matter came up before Hon'ble Supreme Court in "Government of Balochistan Vs Rifat Parveen" (1981 SCM R 1002) where it was held that status of such rules embodied in the prospectus cannot be placed higher than rules or bye-laws framed in exercise of delegated powers or executive authority and that such byelaw or rule can be struck down on ground of unreasonableness.
19. 17.The status of an Organization, Council or Institution which is Federally Administered, exercises universal jurisdiction over the whole country and thus regulates and ensures a uniform system of administration. It eliminates to the maximum any possible discrimination likely to be caused by divergent and conflicting rules or regulations adopted by different Institutions or different Provinces. On this principle, regulations framed by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council were to be applicable to all the Medical Colleges of Pakistan irrespective of the fact whether prospectus issued by these Colleges contained a similar provisions or not. The PMDC holds a central status and the aforesaid principle was ruled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in "Nadir Khan and others v.
20. Principal Khyber Medical College Peshawar (1995 SCM R 421).
21. 18.Consequently, for the aforesaid reasons, we had accepted the writ petition of Misss Ghazala Quader through our short order dated 3-6-1997. The conversion of marks done by Inter Board Committee of Chairmen was held valid and the respondents were directed to admit the petitioner as a regular student in Ist year M.B.,B.S.. It was for the aforesaid reasons that we, in our short order, had converted the provisional admission granted to the petitioner into regular admission and she was allowed to be admitted to the forthcoming annual examination.