The Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed of the suo motu case pertaining to the 2018 regulations of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) that suggested an award of 20 additional marks to candidates for memorising the Holy Quran by heart to get MBBS or BDS degrees. A six-member larger bench comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazahar, Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi heard the case. During the course of proceedings, the PMDC counsel, Afnan Kundi, contended that 20 additional marks were awarded to students for memorising the Holy Quran up until 2018. He said new rules were formulated in 2021 and the process of awarding additional marks was brought to an end. Justice Munib Akhtar said the suo motu case had become infructuous after an amendment in the PMDC regulations. Subsequently, the six-member bench “recalled” the interim order, deeming the order “both without and beyond jurisdiction”. The detailed court order issued later in the day said that Justice Isa and Justice Khan’s order was “clearly violative” of a five-member bench’s August 2021 order that only the chief justice could take suo motu notice. “The majority order also appears to be in violation of the well settled rule of law, which is axiomatic, that the chief justice is the master of the roster. The order was therefore both without and beyond jurisdiction. Therefore, we are respectfully of the view that the order dated 15.03.2023 passed by two honourable members of the bench was inoperative and ineffective when made, was such at all times thereafter and continues to remain so.” The detailed court verdict also agreed with the chief justice’s observations in the registrar’s circular. “On perusal of the circular in question, we are of the view that the observations made by the honourable chief justice of Pakistan (HCJP) are unexceptionable and simply rectify an unwarranted assumption of jurisdiction and intrusion into, and interference with, powers that the principles laid down in the case law place firmly in the hands of the Chief Justice alone. “We accordingly affirm the observations of the HCJP as incorporated in the circular and the directions issued therein. In view of the foregoing, the interim order dated 15.03.2023 (released on 29.03.2023) is recalled,” the order reads. Regarding the case itself, the order said that since the PMDC had informed that the MBBS and BDS (Admissions, Examinations, House Job or Internship) Regulations, 2018 which granted the 20 additional marks were not in force and the current regulations did not allow any such marks so “no further proceedings in this suo motu case are required. The SMC is accordingly disposed of as having been infructuous. File may be consigned to the record.”