Harish for 100% quota for TS students in medical colleges

Hyderabad: BRS senior leader and former minister Harish Rao has called on the State government to ensure that 100% of seats under the convener quota in medical colleges are reserved for students from Telangana. This demand comes as the State marks the 10th anniversary of its formation.

Harish Rao highlighted that since the formation of Telangana in 2014, a policy that allowed students from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to compete for 15% of the medical seats under the convener quota. He warned that if this policy continues, new medical colleges established after 2014 would also have to allocate 15% of seats to students from outside Telangana, potentially depriving Telangana students of 520 medical seats. To address this issue, the previous BRS government had limited the unreserved quota to the 20 medical colleges that existed before Telangana’s formation. This was done by amending the Medical and Dental College Admission Rules under the AP Reorganization Act and Article 371D, ensuring that 100% of seats in medical colleges established after June 2, 2014, were reserved for Telangana students. This amendment resulted in an additional 520 seats for Telangana students.

Harish Rao emphasised that with the state organisation modern law becoming inoperative on June 2, it is crucial to reserve 100% of the convener quota seats in the old medical colleges for Telangana students. Failure to do so, he warned, would allow students from Andhra Pradesh to occupy these seats, as has been the case for the past decade. He pointed out that the number of medical colleges in Telangana has increased from 20 to 56, and the number of medical seats has risen from 2,850 to 8,340 since the state’s formation. Harish Rao also called for clarity on the local/non-local status for Telangana students pursuing medical courses other than MBBS and PG Medical, to ensure they receive full justice under the convener quota.