Hyderabad: The Telangana government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Telangana High Court’s ruling over local quota in Post Graduate Medical seats.
A bench led by Justice BR Gavai has allowed a hearing of the petition. In the same context, the Telangana government has referred to the recent verdict of a three-judge bench headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dulia that the locality quota in PG medical seats is invalid.
Keeping in mind the verdict of the three-judge bench, the Telangana government has sought the transfer of its petition to a larger bench. The bench headed by Justice BR Gavai has made it clear that they will conduct a hearing before transferring it to a larger bench. According to a report by Eenadu, the Supreme Court has adjourned the next hearing to April 4.
About 100 students have approached the Telangana High Court seeking allotment of seats in PG under locality quota to students who did MBBS in AP under Article 371(d). The Telangana High Court has ruled that local quota is applicable in PG medical seats in AP and Telangana as per Article 371(d).
The High Court did not consider Telangana’s argument that Article 371(d) was applicable only for ten years after bifurcation. The Telangana government argued that the local quota is applicable only to students who studied in Telangana from Class 9 to 12. It said that this locality applies only to those who studied in the Telangana region.
The Telangana High Court has ruled that those who studied MBBS in the Rayalaseema and Andhra regions are also eligible for local quota in PG medical seats in Telangana as per Article 371(d).
Since Article 371(d) applies to the united Andhra Pradesh, the High Court has clarified that students who studied MBBS in Andhra and Rayalaseema are also eligible for local quota in Telangana until amendments are made to it.
As per the Telangana High Court verdict, around 200 students are eligible for admission to PG medical seats in the state. In this context, the Telangana government has challenged the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court.
Telangana HC strikes down GO reserving local PG medical seats
The Telangana government approached the Supreme Court regarding the local quota in the PG medical seats after the Telangana High Court on December 17 struck down government orders reserving postgraduate medical seats for local students.
A bench of chief justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao declared as ‘bad’ the state govt’s GOs 148 and 149, issued on October 28 as per which only those who studied medical courses in Telangana under local quota would be treated as local candidates in PG medical admissions and not those who have studied in Telangana under non-local quota.
Disposing of a batch of nearly 100 petitions that challenged the government’s action in amending the rules in October, the bench said that all those who completed MBBS in Telangana were entitled to compete for 2024-25 PG medical seats as local candidates.
Telangana HC strikes down GO reserving PG medical seats for locals
Agreeing with senior counsel G Vidya Sagar who argued that Presidential Order 1974 was very much in force in Telangana’s education sector even after the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh and that the state’s amended rules cannot change the mandate of the Presidential Order, the bench said that in case of a conflict between them, the Presidential Order would prevail.
Telangana had amended the rules of medical admissions and brought in explanation (b) to Rule VIII (ii) of Telangana Medical Colleges (admission into PG medical courses) Rules, 2021, as amended by GO 148 and explanation (b) to Rule 8 (ii) of the Telangana Admission into PG (AYUSH) Courses Rules issued GO 149. The govt said the objective of these GOs was to help local candidates.
However, the bench said that since the Presidential Order defines those who studied the qualifying course (MBBS) in Telangana as local candidates, they would be eligible to compete for the PG medical seats meant for local candidates.
