Telangana High Court: If candidates produce residence certificates within a week admit them on merit

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court’s division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T Vinod Kumar, on Tuesday heard the batch of writ petitions seeking validity of rule 3 (III)(B) of the Telangana Medical & Dental Colleges Admission (Admission into MBBS & BDS Courses) Rules, 2017, and challenges GO 114, dated July 5, 2017, on the ground that it is unconstitutional. The petitioners also sought relief that they be declared as local candidates for admission into MBBS/BDS courses for 2023-2024. They claim to be permanent residents of Telangana.

A petitioner in WP 21268 of 2023 said she was born in Hyderabad and claims to be a permanent resident of the State. She completed her schooling from classes 1 to 10 in Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. Her parents are IPS officers and belong to the All-India Service. In 2017 her father was transferred to Chennai. Thereafter in 2021 her was also transferred to Chennai. Due to Covid it was not possible for the petitioner to stay in the boarding school at Hyderabad, as all such institutions were closed.

The petitioner, on account of the transfer of her parents to Chennai, prosecuted her studies and passed her 11th and 12th classes examination from Chennai. Thereafter she appeared in the NEET examination on May 7 this year. The result of NEET exam was declared on June 13. However, on August 2 the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences declared her ineligible for admission as a local candidate.

After hearing both sides, the bench pronounced its orders and directed that in case the petitioners produce residence certificate issued by a competent authority of the State government within a week from Tuesday to the university they shall be treated as local candidates. The university shall consider the claim of the petitioners as local candidates as per their merit for admission to MBBS/BDS courses. Accordingly, the petitions were disposed of.