MBBS admissions in Telangana: HC refuses to entertain local reservation pleas
Hyderabad: Following the petition about procedural irregularities regarding the implementation of existing rules of admission, the Telangana High Court has denied examining such complaints in the ongoing MBBS admissions. A bench of Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice MS Ramachandra Rao has made it clear that it would not entertain complaints against non-implementation of the Article 371-D and the Presidential Order.
Article 371(D) safeguards the rights of local people in employment and education. It had been created as the 32nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1974.
The decision of HC is a result of the amendment carried out to the provisions of the Medical Council of India Act and the clear pronouncement regarding this by the HC and the Supreme Court of India. HC, however, would examine the issues of merit related problems in the admission.
As per the latest media report by the Times of India, while responding to a query about the applicability of the Presidential Order given the legal pronouncements, Additional advocate general J Ramachandra Rao explained that the university has been implementing it, as asked by the AP Reorganization Act. This implementation would continue till 2023. He further mentioned that there had been subsequent court orders as well, which clarifies the position.
Petitioners mentioned the issue of less meritorious students getting seats at the expense of the more meritorious ones. The petitioners contended that the names of the more meritorious students from Telangana who could gain seats in the unreserved 15 percent are being reflected in the 85 percent local quota. They claimed that this is negatively affecting the Telangana students.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that many of the state medical aspirants had allegedly been deprived of the opportunity to join top rank institutions like Gandhi and Osmania medical colleges since many students heralding from Andhra Pradesh had secured admission under 'unreserved quota' following a faulty admission process.
Read also: Controversy: Clash Between Telangana And Andhra Students Over Top MBBS Seats
TOI adds that HC has given assurance to the petitioners to examine the case only if the persons likely to be affected on account of this litigation were made respondents at the court.
The HC bench has also asked for a counter from the Kaloji University within two weeks. The case has been scheduled for February 19 for further hearing.
Meanwhile, the report by TOI also adds that the Kaloji University has been saying that it could only effect changes in tunes with the options given by the meritorious students. The university in a press release, has mentioned that if those students settle for earlier allotments and do not apply for any change in the subsequent counseling, the university would fail to affect the changes on its own.
The university explained that the seats in the non-state wide institutions shall be allotted as 15 percent unreserved open candidates from AU, OU and SVU regions and 85 percent are reserved for local candidates.
