VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday declined to grant interim relief in a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging Government Order (GO) 102, which introduced a new system allowing candidates to exercise web options before every phase of MBBS and BDS admissions counselling.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan refused to halt the counselling process, observing that no affected student had approached the court claiming prejudice due to the revised procedure. With counselling scheduled to commence shortly, the Bench held that interim interference was not warranted at this stage.
However, the court issued notices to the Principal Secretaries of the Medical and Health and Higher Education Departments, the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of Dr. NTR Health University, and the Competent Authority for NEET-UG admissions, directing them to file detailed counter-affidavits.
The Bench also instructed the university authorities to explain the changes in the counselling process resulting from the new policy of collecting web options before each counselling round.
The PIL was filed by BCYP president Bode Ramachandra Yadav, who contended that the new system replaced the earlier single web-option process introduced under GO 151 without adequate study and could reduce opportunities for meritorious reserved-category students to secure open-category seats. Counsel for Dr NTR Health University defended the revised policy, stating it was introduced to address concerns affecting merit-based admissions. The matter has been adjourned for further hearing.