Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court ruled on Thursday, September 5, that students who are either domiciled in Telangana or permanent residents of the state are eligible for admission to medical colleges.
This decision was made by a bench consisting of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao in response to a series of writ petitions from students seeking entry into MBBS and BDS programs.
These students had not studied in Telangana for four consecutive years before their qualifying examination, which had previously rendered them ineligible under Rule 3(a) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Rules, 2017, introduced by the government on July 19.
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Given the lack of established guidelines or rules to determine a student’s permanent residency or domicile status, the High Court instructed the government to create such guidelines.
The court emphasized that these rules should be applied to each case involving the petitioners to make informed decisions regarding their admissions.
The ruling emphasized that the original intent of Rule 3(a) was to protect the interests of local students, but it acknowledged that the requirement of four consecutive years of study in the state was overly restrictive and could unfairly disadvantage students with strong ties to Telangana who did not meet this criterion due to various circumstances.
The court’s decision allows for an interpretation of local candidate status, ensuring that permanent residents are not excluded from admissions based solely on their educational history outside the state.
Another goal of the ruling was to ensure that medical services are accessible to the residents of the state, as ‘permanent students’ would continue to live in Telangana after completing their medical education.
However, the court noted that the intent of the rule would be undermined if permanent residents were denied admission solely because they did not pass the qualifying exam in Telangana.
The bench stated, “A permanent resident of Telangana may have cleared the relevant qualifying examination at an institution outside the state and should not be denied admission solely based on their educational history outside the state.”
