Private medical colleges case: SC summons Punjab governor’s son over obstruction of justice

• CJP suspends Faisalabad Medical College VC, issues contempt of court 

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar has summoned Punjab governor Malik Rafique Rajwana’s son over obstruction of justice while hearing the suo moto case of fee hike in private medical colleges on Wednesday.

The directives were issued after a lawyer informed the two-member bench hearing the case that when she complained about the massive fee hike by a medical college, she received threatening calls from the owners of medical colleges and son of Punjab governor.

On hearing this, the chief justice remarked that he will see if the Constitution allows him to summon the Punjab governor and then proceeded to summon the son of the governor.

In Wednesday’s hearing, owners and chief executives of private medical colleges appeared before the Supreme Court Lahore registry, except the representatives of Fatima Memorial Medical College.

The CJP suspended Faisalabad Medical College Vice Chancellor Dr Fareed Zafar and issued a contempt of court notice against him.

The chief justice observed that he has come to know that every medical college has its own merit, adding that he was told before that fees as much as Rs 642,000 are being charged to students, but today he has been informed that even more than 0.9 million rupees are being taken by medical colleges.

Earlier, the Supreme Court of Pakistan stopped private medical colleges all over the country from inducting students into their programmes until the court orders to the contrary during the case proceedings on Tuesday.

The CJP expressed anger over private medical colleges taking a high fee from the students and observed that medical colleges are being run on the rooftops and garages, adding that the court should be told about the structure of such colleges.

He sought details of bank accounts of private colleges’ owners and announced that keeping in mind the urgency of the situation for the students and their parents, the case will also be heard on Saturday and Sunday.

SC summons VCs of nine universities

The Supreme Court summoned vice chancellors of nine universities in a case pertaining to affiliating non-standard law colleges.

The universities include Punjab University, Peshawar University, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Islamia University, Gomal University, Balochistan University, Karachi University, University of Sindh and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai University.

The CJP also sought details of the eligibility of the law colleges and asked to submit the respective document in this regard.