Telangana HCt Alters Rule on Local Candidature for Medical Admissions

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday categorically ordered that permanent residents/ those domiciled in Telangana, who are otherwise eligible for admission into MBBS and BDS courses based on merit, cannot be denied the benefit of admission in the state merely because of their study or residence outside Telangana.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao made it clear that these students should not be excluded from the process of admission on the ground that they did not pass the qualifying examination from Telangana. It granted the liberty to the state government to frame guidelines/rules to determine as to how a student can be considered as permanent resident of Telangana.

Deccan Chronicle had reported on the injustice meted out to Telangana students because of last-minute change in the definition of local category as notified by the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences.

The report, ‘New meaning to locals may affect MBBS aspirants in TG’ on August 5 had highlighted how students who were born and studied in Telangana all through but did not pass the qualifying examination from the state would lose an opportunity to become a doctor because of the changes carried out by the government at the behest of a top official of the health university.

In an elaborate order, the High Court bench prevented students from other states from seeking admission in Telangana and at the same time protected the interests of locals who studied outside or passed the qualifying examination in other states.

“The object of Rule 3(a) of the 2017 Rules, as amended vide GO Ms. No. 33, dated 19.07.2024, is to provide reservation for local candidates. In case the rule is struck down, then students from all over the country shall be entitled to admission in medical colleges situated in the state of Telangana and the domicile/permanent residents of the state of Telangana would be deprived of the benefit of admission,” the court said.

Hence the court opted to “read down the rule” introduced to prescribe the eligibility norms under the competent authority quota and held that “the aforesaid Rule shall not apply to permanent residents of the state of Telangana.”

The Chief Justice bench was dealing with a batch of over 50 writ petitions challenging the validity of Rule 3(a) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admission (Admission into MBBS & BDS Courses) Rules as amended vide the GO dated July 19, 2024.The petitioners approached the court claiming to be permanent residents of Telangana and sought a direction to treat them as local candidates for admission into MBBS and BDS courses.

The petitioners contended that due to the amended rules, they became ineligible for the local quota of 85 per cent seats reserved for permanent residents of the state. The petitioners pointed out that the identically-worded rule was held to be unconstitutional and struck down by a division bench of the Telangana High Court earlier.

The Advocate-General argued that it was open for the state to provide for reservation on the basis of domicile/residence. After hearing counsels for the petitioners and the Advocate-General, the bench observed that the amended rule had a more stringent requirement namely that the candidate must have to pass the qualifying examination from the state of Telangana to be eligible.

The HC observed that “it is not open to the State to make wholesale reservations on the basis of domicile, residence and institutional preferences. Such a reservation, however, cannot exceed the outer limit of 70% of total seats by taking into account other reservations validly made.”