Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the State government and the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences to permit 34 students as ‘local candidates’ to apply for admission into MBBS/BDS courses for 2025-26. These students appeared for NEET UG 2025 and were aspiring for admission into undergraduate medical and dental programmes.
A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar and Justice P. Sam Koshy, pronouncing the interim direction, instructed the authorities to allow these students to be registered as residents from Telangana. The applications of these candidates may also be processed. They should not be rejected on the ground of having not studied in Telangana preceding four consecutive years of the qualifying examination.
Posting the matter to July 30 for next hearing, the bench said that, however, the applications of these students would be subject to outcome of their respective writ petitions. The issue of admissions into MBBS/BDS courses under competent quota got embroiled in litigation since the then State government issued G.O. no. 114 in 2017.
Eighty-five per cent of seats under competent authority quota are reserved for ‘local’ candidates. The G.O. mandated that for a student to be eligible to avail local candidate quota, he or she should have studied for four consecutive years in Telangana preceding the qualifying examination. That meant the student claiming local quota should have studied class 9 and 10 along with intermediate first and second years consecutively within Telangana.
For example, a student who was born and brought up in Telangana and studied from class 1 to 10 in Telangana but studied Intermediate in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh or any other State would not be eligible to apply for admission into MBBS/BDS as local candidate.
With some students challenging this, the HC set aside the G.O. Again in 2024, the officials brought in G.O. no.33 with the same content. On July 18, a student moved the HC challenging the G.O. and seeking a direction to allow her to apply as local candidate.
Senior counsel J.Ramchander Rao contended that she had a strong case since the HC earlier (for the academic years 2023-24 and 2024-25) permitted students to apply as local candidates though they did not study in Telangana for four consecutive years preceding qualifying exam. A division bench directed the authorities to permit her to apply as local candidate.
On Wednesday, 34 more students moved the HC with similar plea. The bench headed by the Chief Justice directed that the orders issued on July 18 were being extended in the fresh writ petitions as well.
Published – July 24, 2025 01:58 am IST
