Telangana HC Directs State to Include AP Petitioners for Medical Seat Allotments

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Saturday directed the state government and Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) to include petitioners from Andhra Pradesh challenging 100 per cent reservation for locals in 34 colleges established after 2014 and modify the software for the allocation process to declare results across 54 medical colleges for MBBS/BDS seats.

Issuing the direction, the court adjourned a batch of writ petitions to August 230

The division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar were hearing a batch of writ petitions challenging the validity of the GO 72 issued on July 3, which allocated the entire quota of MBBS and BDS seats under competent authority’s jurisdiction in medical colleges established after June 2, 2014, exclusively for students of Telangana.

The GO effectively excluded students from Andhra Pradesh.

In six writ petitions, filed by Gangineni Sai Bhavana and others of Andhra Pradesh, the counsel for the petitioner argued that according to Section 95 of the AP Re-Organisation Act, 2014, existing reservations were to be upheld for a period of 10 years and alterations to seat-sharing ratios were prohibited.

Additionally, the counsel referred to Clause (7) of the Presidential Order under Article 371D, which outlines special provisions for equal opportunity in matters of public employment and education for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The counsel pointed out that the establishment date of the institution should not impact the seat distribution ratio, and that the existing admissions quota must continue.

Advocate General B.S. Prasad, however, countered these arguments by highlighting that as of June 2, 2014, the date of bifurcation, there were only 20 medical colleges in Telangana with a total of 2,850 seats. Of these, 280 were allocated under the 15 per cent quota and subsequently, 33 seats were added, taking the 15 per cent quota to 313.

The AG also said that starting in 2019, 540 seats under NEET would be part of the national pool along with the existing 313 seats, resulting in a total of 853 seats available for Andhra Pradesh students to compete for.

Notably, the 34 other colleges did not have any reservations available, limiting students from Andhra Pradesh to the 20 colleges. The AG asserted that there was no violation of the Presidential Order outlined in Section 95 of the AP Re-Organisation Act-2014.

After considering the arguments of petitioners’ counsels, AG and standing counsel for KNRUHS, the court issued a clear directive to declare seat allotment results for MBBS/BDS seats in all 54 medical colleges across the state. The court further instructed that the software should be adjusted to include the six petitioners under the 15 per cent quota for the allocation. The authorities are required to submit a report to the court in a sealed cover after implementing these changes.

The court also expressed its view that the dispute should not cause suffering for all Telangana students due to the situation of the six petitioners. If the latter group manages to secure seats in the 20 medical colleges, the matter would be resolved, the court said.

Otherwise, the court indicated that it would issue appropriate directions after reviewing the report submitted by the university and adjourned the matter to August 23.