Local quota status: HC adjourns hearing on pleas of medical aspirants

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court adjourned the hearing in the batch of petitions challenging GO 33, which defines that those seeking admissions into MBBS and BDS courses must have continuously studied from standard nine to Intermediate in the state to be considered as local candidates.

Advocate general A. Sudharshan Reddy, representing the state government, on Wednesday submitted that 86 out of the 135 petitioner students, who had approached the High Court challenging the GO, submitted in their NEET applications that their domicile was Andhra Pradesh but now they were claiming local candidate status in Telangana state. Further, he submitted that the nomenclature to the local candidate is necessary, as the 10-year term prescribed in the AP Reorganisation Act has been completed.

Senior counsel Seetharama Murthy submitted that some of the petitioners studied till Class X in Telangana and a few of them went to other states to pursue intermediate while one had studied abroad. The new amendments imply that even if such students belong to Telangana, they would not be eligible for local quota in the admissions into MBBS and BDS courts.

Due to paucity of the time, the High Court adjourned the hearing to Thursday.