Hyderabad: Providing major relief to a medical aspirant who was denied local candidate status while trying to secure admission, the Telangana High Court has ordered the state government and the KNR University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) to grant her the status for the 2024-25 academic admissions to MBBS and BDS courses.
While delivering the judgement, a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao noted that the petitioner met the residency requirement, having resided in Telangana since 2019, and had passed her qualifying examination within the state.
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This comes after the petitioner approached the High Court against the university's arbitrary denial of her eligibility for local candidate status. Through her petition, the medical aspirant sought direction from the court to consider her in the local candidate status as she argued that she had resided in Telanagance since 2019.
As per Rule 3(a)(ii) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges (Admission into MBBS/BDS Courses) Rules, 2017. The rule permits local candidate status to those who have either resided in Telangana for a minimum of four years or completed their qualifying examination in the state.
As per TNIE news report, the petitioner stated that she had studied in Dubai from 1998 to 2008 before relocating to Telangana in 2019. After relocation, the petitioner passed her XI and XII examinations from the state. However, despite staying in the state for four years, the university rejected her local candidate status.
Citing her continuous residence in Telangana since then, along with a certificate issued by the tahsildar of Serilingampally, she contended that she fulfilled the requirements under Rule 3(a)(ii).
Meanwhile, the counsel appearing for the university presented a different interpretation of the case. According to the council, the petitioner did not meet the rule’s stipulation of studying for four consecutive years in the state, rendering her ineligible for local candidate status.
Taking note of the facts presented by both parties in the case, the court upheld the medical aspirant's petitioner directing the state and KNRUHS to grant her the status.
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