The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday fined 10 private medical colleges Tk. 1 crore each for admitting 153 students who had failed to fulfil criteria fixed by the government. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, gave the medical colleges 10 days to pay the fine. The 10 medical colleges fined are MH Samorita Medical College, City Medical College, Nightingale Medical College, ZH Sikder Medical College, AR Medical College, East West Medical College, Tairunnessa Memorial Medical College, Aichi Medical College, Care Medical College, and Ashiyan Medical College. The court directed them to give half the sum to Dhaka University (DU) and the rest to the National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh and the Kidney Foundation of Bangladesh. The apex court also asked the DU authorities to register the 153 medical students and issue them admit cards after receiving the fine to enable them to appear in their first professional examinations. The apex court also directed DU to keep Tk. 5 crore as a fixed deposit and use the interest to pay stipend to poor students. In the 2014–15 academic session, 10 medical colleges had admitted 153 students, who had failed to obtain the minimum score in the admission test held by the health ministry. DU, which administers the professional examinations of the medical colleges, refused to issue registration and admit cards to the 153 students for the first part of the exams. The students filed a writ petition with the High Court, challenging the DU decision.
On June 13, the HC asked the DU authorities to issue the registration and admit cards to the students within 72 hours. But DU appealed against the HC order in the apex court. After a hearing on the appeal, the apex court had, on August 10, issued a rule asking the 10 private medical colleges to explain by August 21 why action should not be taken against them. The Supreme Court also stayed the High Court order asking the DU authorities to register the 153 students and issue them admit cards for the first part of the exams. The apex court also asked the chairmen and principals of the colleges to come up with explanations by August 21. The 10 colleges filed their explanations before the apex court, which gave the order after a hearing on the rule. Attorney general Mahbubey Alam and AFM Mesbah Uddin appeared for Dhaka University, while Advocate Abdul Baset Majumder, AJ Mohammad Ali and Barrister Masud Reza Shobhan represented the private colleges in the appeal hearing.