16-10-2026: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, has directed the University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore, to upload all question-paper codes of the MDCAT-2026 examination conducted in Punjab on its official website and keep them publicly accessible at least until finalisation of the admission process, thereafter inviting objections from candidates in accordance with the applicable policy.
Allowing a constitutional petition filed by some students, Justice Syed Ahsan Raza Kazmi held that collecting question papers without providing an effective alternative means of access had impaired candidates’ ability to scrutinize the official answer key and meaningfully challenge disputed questions.
Ch. Imran Hassan Ali, Advocate, counsel for the petitioners, successfully advanced the case for transparency and procedural fairness, arguing that candidates could not effectively exercise their right to object to questions or answers if they were denied access to the examination papers. He relied, inter alia, on the UHS examination guide, the previous practice of allowing candidates to retain question papers, and a judgment of the Islamabad High Court emphasising transparency in the MDCAT process.
The Court observed that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) direction to collect the papers merely referred to the “safe and smooth conduct” of the examination, without adequately explaining why the papers had to remain inaccessible after the test. It further noted that the respondents had failed to demonstrate how publishing the completed examination papers would necessarily compromise the question bank or examination security.
Rejecting the preliminary objection to maintainability, the Court held that examination policy remained within the domain of the competent authorities, but administrative decisions were not immune from constitutional judicial review where their legality, rationality or fairness was challenged.
The petition was accordingly allowed, with the direction confined to MDCAT-2026 conducted in Punjab. The Court also recorded its displeasure over the failure of the UHS Registrar to comply with an earlier direction to appear in person, although it refrained from taking penal action.
The judgment has been reported at 2026 LHC 7274. It can be downloaded from the Lahore High Court website by clicking here.
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