Telangana HC urges state and KNRUHS to clarify local candidate criteria for medical courses
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday gave two days to the state government, the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) and others to submit their stand in the petitions challenging the validity of the recent amendments and substitutions to Rule 3(a) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admissions Rules, 2017, which defines new qualifications for local candidates to get admissions into MBBS and BDS courses.
The state government has brought these amendments by issuing GO Ms No. 33 of the health department dated July 19.
The amended GO stated that the eligibility for admissions under the competent authority quota is: “A student must have studied in local educational institutions for at least four consecutive academic years ending with the year they first appeared for or as the case may have first appeared in the relevant qualifying examination”.
Challenging the orders in two petitions, 60 students from across the state approached the High Court complaining that the amendments were trampling upon their rights.
They brought to the notice of the court the orders passed by the Telangana High Court in 2023 by reading down the Rule 3(III)(B) of 2017 Rules, that the said rule shall not apply to permanent residents of Telangana.
Another contention was that amending the rules as regards local candidates, after the issuance of the notification, conducting exam and announcing the results of NEET was whimsical. They requested the court to allow them to apply under the local candidate quota.
When the division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, sought an explanation from Advocate General A. Sudharshan Reddy and A. Prabhakar Rao, standing counsel for Kaloji University, they requested the court for some time for submissions. They brought to the notice of the court that the date of online applications date had been set for August 15. The High Court directed them to submit the contentions on August 14.