HC Questions TS on Issuing Resident Certificate to Out-of-State Student

HYDERABAD: The High Court has directed the Alampur tahsildar to explain how he had certified a student to be a resident of Telangana for 18 years when she had studied from Class I to X in Kurnool district and had written her intermediate examination from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar said it was bothered by how the administrative and executive systems were functioning. The bench questioned whether there was any supervision authority to monitor how officers were issuing orders.

The bench was dealing with a petition by Singotam Vennela, aspiring for an MBBS seat in Telangana. She had filed a petition against the Kaloji Narayana Rao University for Health Sciences for rejecting her application under the local candidate quota on the ground that she had completed her studies outside the state.

She told the court that though she had studied in Andhra Pradesh, she belonged to Alampur of Jogulamba Gadwal district and furnished the tahsildar’s certificate.

After examining the records and the certificate, which stated that she was a resident of Alampur for 18 years, the Chief Justice questioned how it was possible for her to reside at Alampur, when she had studied from Class 1 to Intermediate in Andhra Pradesh.

Recalling the court’s earlier caution to the Advocate-General on issuing the local resident candidate certificate, while issuing orders reading down Rule 3(lll) (B) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admissions Rules, Chief Justice Aradhe observed, “Despite this court asking the Advocate General to inform the Chief Secretary to give instructions to the tahsildars to be careful in issuing the local candidate/ resident certificate, such incidents occurring… this is not a proper way of handling.”