Relief to Telangana PG medical candidates: HC junks GO restricting local candidate status
Telangana High Court
Hyderabad: In a major relief to the medicos who pursued their MBBS degrees in Telangana but completed their schooling from outside the State, the Telangana High Court has allowed them for postgraduate (PG) medical counselling within the State as local candidates.
Accordingly, the HC bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas struck down Government Order No. 148 and 149, which mandate that the students complete their schooling within Telangana to be considered local residents.
TNIE has reported that the Court has advised the Telangana Government to amend the concerned GO No. 148. The bench clarified that all of those who studied MBBS, BAMS (Ayush) and BHMS courses etc. in Telangana were eligible for convenor quota seats in PG medical admissions in all Government medical colleges as local candidates.
Both the GOs 148 and 149 were issued on October 28. These Government orders specified that those who studied medical courses in Telangana under the local quota would be treated as local candidates in PG medical admissions and those who studied under non-local quota would not be considered as local.
Amending the medical admission rules, the State had brought in explanation (b) to Rule VIII (ii) of Telangana Medical Colleges (admission into PG medical courses) Rules, 2021, as amended by GO 148 (dated Oct 28, 2024) and explanation (b) to Rule 8 (ii) of the Telangana Admission into PG (AYUSH) Courses Rules issued GO 149 (also dated Oct 28). As per the Government, the objective of these GOs was to help local candidates.
Due to these regulations, many students were placed in a difficult position as they were not recognised as local students anywhere including their home States.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that these Government provisions were challenged before the Telangana High Court. The petitioners challenged these rules arguing them to be arbitrary and discriminatory. They pointed out that the current admission rules did not extend the benefit of local candidate status to those who studied outside of Telangana and were violative of Article 14 (Right to Equality) and Article 15 (Prohibition of Discrimination) of the Constitution of India.
On the other hand, the Advocate General, the counsel for the State, argued that Section 95 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, rendered the Presidential Order and Article 371 D inapplicable to Telangana. It was also argued that the State retained the authority to amend admission rules and introduce residency-based criteria , citing precedents from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, The New Indian Express has reported.
The Times of India has reported that disposing of a batch of nearly 100 petitions that challenged the Government's action in amending the rules in October, the bench observed that all those who completed their MBBS degrees in Telangana were entitled to be admitted to PG medical courses as local candidates for the year 2024-2025.
Further, the bench agreed with Senior Counsel G Vidya Sagar who argued that Presidential Order 1974 was very much in force in the education sector in Telangana even after the bifurcation of United Andhra Pradesh and the amended rules introduced by the State could not change the mandate of the Presidential Order. Agreeing with this contention, the HC bench observed that in case of a conflict between them, the Presidential Order would prevail.
As per the bench, the Presidential Order defines those who studied the qualifying course i.e. MBBS in Telangana as local candidates would become eligible to compete for PG medical seats for local candidates regardless of their nature of seat during MBBS.
"The power under Article 371D (Presidential Order) of the Constitution has been invoked after formation of the state of Telangana and an order relating to public employment has been framed for Telangana in 2018. This shows that the Presidential Order is in force and very much applicable to Telangana," the HC bench observed.
Further, the bench noted that the Presidential Order was made in respect to education in 1974 and it has neither even amended nor repealed by Telangana. Therefore, considering Paragraph 6 of the Telangana Adaptation of Laws Order, 2016, the same is deemed to have been adapted for Telangana.
The bench opined that the Government should have taken appropriate steps to seek amendment in the Presidential Order considering the mandate contained in section 95 of the AP Reorganisation Act.
Observing that the PG medical admission rules were introduced in October before notifying the PG medical admissions, the bench opined that it could not be said that the rules were amended after the commencement of admission process. "What was found inconsistent is the changed definition of the local candidate and hence it was struck down," it noted.
