HC strikes down Telangana government’s amendment of local status rule for medical PG admissions

A view of Telangana High Court building, in Hyderabad.

Telangana High Court on Tuesday struck down the rules, recently amended by State government, relating to ‘local status’ of candidates for admissions into post-graduate medical course.

A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Srinivas Rao ruled that candidates who completed MMBS/BAMS/BHMS from Telangana State or ‘local area’ as defined in the Presidential Order-1974 are entitled to participate in counselling for admission into PG medical courses for academic year 2024-25. The Bench delivered judgement disposing of a batch of nearly 100 writ petitions challenging the medical PG course admission rules amended by State government on October 28 this year through GOs Ms. No. 148 and 149.

Before amendment, as per Rule VIII of the 2021 Rules, and Rule 6 of the Rules for admission into MD courses Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy-2004, candidates who secured medical degrees from educational institutions situated in ‘local area’ under the Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission) Order-1974 were eligible to be treated as local candidates.

The amended rules mandated that candidates who secured admissions in MBBS/UG AYUSH courses under ‘Non-Local Quota’ in Telangana ‘shall not be treated as a Local Candidate’. Challenging this rule, the writ petitions were filed.

The Bench noted that under para 4 of the Presidential Order a candidate who resided in the local area for a period of not less than four years immediately preceding the date of commencement of the relevant qualifying examination should be treated as a local candidate.

However, the amended rules made such candidates ineligible to be treated as local candidates as they were not admitted to the qualifying exam (MMBS/BHMS/BAMS) under local quota. Thus, the amended rules were in contravention of Section 4 of the Presidential Order, the Bench said.

The Bench did not agree with the contention of the petitioners that the rules were changed in the midst of the process of admissions.