The Sindh High Court rejected on Thursday applications against re-taking of the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT).

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, conducted the hearing of the petition that was filed against the Sindh government’s decision to hold the fresh test on November 19.

Six petitioners had impugned a notification issued by the Sindh health secretary on Oct 7 for the retake of the MDCAT, citing that they had appeared and passed the medical college entry test, which was organised by the JSMU on Sept 10. But some others had contested their pleas.

On Thursday, the petitioner’s lawyer said that at least 40,000 students were affected due to the development and added that the paper was leaked four hours before the exam. He added that the matter was cleared after the initial investigation conducted by the Jinnah Sindh Medical University.

The court said that a complete investigation was conducted and the matter was also discussed by the cabinet. The bench added that if something has gone wrong, it should be fixed.

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), which was issued a pre-admission notice by the bench, also supported the decision to again conduct the exam. The PMDC lawyer informed the court that forensics of two mobile phones proved that the paper was leaked.

The council also submitted its reply to the court while its lawyer said that the inquiry committee and provincial cabinet had asked it to re-take the exam.

When the petition asked the court to extend the exam date by two months, the court advised him to consult the authority concerned for it.

Around 40,000 male and female candidates took the MDCAT conducted by the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) on September 10 for 1,700 open merit seats. The test was held at five examination centres in Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, and Larkana.

Around 10,000 candidates, including more than 7,000 females and nearly 2,800 males, took the exam at the Karachi University centre while over 5,000 other candidates (around 3,700 females and 1,400 males) appeared in the test at the Dow University’s Ojha campus.

More than 13,000 candidates – around 7,000 female and 6,000 male – took the test at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Hyderabad, according to the JSMU press release.

Over 3,500 candidates had appeared for the exam in Nawabshah and more than 4,000 in Larkana.