Second entrance test: UoP allowed to resume admissions process

PHC vacates stay on the process, directs final merit list be based on results of both tests

PESHAWAR: One of the largest and oldest universities in the province has been allowed to resume the admission process and continue to induct students into its graduate four-year degree programmes after a court vacated a stay order on the matter.

The stay was vacated by a two-judge bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, on Tuesday as it heard and dismissed a writ petition filed by Isa Khan.

The petitioner had told the court that the varsity had conducted a second entry test to accommodate some near and dear ones.

The petitioner alleged that the university had transformed into a business enterprise and by conducting such additional tests, it aimed to collect millions from students.

“There is no rationale in conducting the second test before the declaration of intermediate results, but grab more money,” the lawyer alleged in the court.

He further contended that under the law, conducting a second entry test in the same academic year was illegal and without legal authority since it had the potential of disturbing the merit position.

Isa urged the court to cancel the additional test held by the government.

The PHC, during an initial hearing of the case last month, had halted the admission process and issued directions to the University of Peshawar (UoP) to submit the reply to the petition.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the two PHC judges declared that they had found nothing prejudice in the university’s decision to conduct a second test and declared the process legal.

In its reply, the UoP told the court that unlike tests in the past, the first test conducted for the four-year Bachelors of Studies (BS) programme by the varsity drew the attention of a paltry 6,000 students.

Far fewer than what the university had anticipated.

Therefore, the UoP Admissions director told the court they had decided to organise the test again and accommodate more students.

Furthermore, the UoP admissions directorate explained that most of the students were busy preparing for the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) tests, due to which they could not find the time to appear for the UoP test.

Thus they re-arranged the test which proved fruitful since an additional 5,807 students appeared in the second test, nearly doubling the pool of students from which the university could grant admissions.

He further contended there was nothing illegal in conducting additional tests for the betterment of students and giving them another chance.

However, the UoP official laid bare his bitterness over the stay granted by the court noting that it had wasted a lot of time of the varsity, thus they should be allowed to commence the admission process forthwith.

Dismissing the petition and vacating the stay, the two-judge bench of the PHC directed that the final merit list for admission should constitute results of both tests and merit should be ensured at every level.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2018.