PESHAWAR: Nowshera Medical College has started admission process to enroll its first-ever batch of 100 students in light of the directives of Peshawar High Court on the request of parents to save the academic year of their wards from being wasted.

A meeting of the joint admission committee for public sector medical colleges held at Khyber Medical College on Monday that decided to begin admissions af ter court directed the NMC principal to do so on November 22. The committee asked all the principals of medical colleges to inform their students if they wanted to be shifted to the newly-built college.Admission to students would be given in accordance with the merit list of the last entrance test for the public sector medical colleges. The next 100 students on the merit list would get admission in NMC.

The college was about to start inducting students last year but it couldn`t do so owing to delay in its recognition by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

`From January to December last year, PMDC was run on ad hoc basis so it didn`t take decision about recognition of the college,` sources said.

They said that early in January 2016, NMC again applied for registration through proper channel and sent application to the government but the same was forwarded to PMDC on June 29. The NMC principal gave presentation to executive council of PMDC on September 6, informing it that they had appointed staff and procured high-tech and costly equipment and were ready to startadmission.

Sources said that as per rules the PMDC should have inspected the college in October to prepare a report and pave way for admission of students in November but it didn`t happen.

`PMDC neither visited the collegelastyearnorthisyear.Itcreated unrest among students and their parents,` they said.

Meanwhile, Peshawar High Court has summoned president of PMDC on November 30 to submit written reply regarding the collegeinresponse toapetitionñled by parents of the students.

Earlier on November 1, the PMDC president didn`t appear in the court and the registrar, who was present on the occasion, informed the bench that they had held meeting regarding NMC but the minutes weren`t written yet.

Following court`s pressure, PMDC informed the principal of the college that an inspection team was arriving on November 30 but on the same day the principal had to appear in court in con-nection with the case.

Sources said that PMDC had been informed to delay the inspection owing to principal`s engagement in court.

`Last week, the college also deposited Rs2.1 million as registration fee besides answering the 10 queries sent by PMDC regarding the infrastructure,` sources said. NMC had argued that it had been recognised by Khyber Medical University after an inspection in November last year because it fulñlled the prescribed criteria and PMDC`s criteria was the same.

NMC Principal Prof Mohammad Tahir, when contacted,saidthathehadrequested PMDC that one academic year of the students had already been lost and the same could happen to the new students if the college wasn`t accorded recognition.

`Classes in public sector medical colleges have begun on November 1 and we need to complete admission process as soon as possible,` he said.