HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has directed the State government and Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) to grant a seat to Prashansa Rathod in the MBBS/BDS course during the first round of counselling.
The court’s directive treated her as a local candidate based on her rank obtained in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). The court, however, said that any admission granted to the petitioner is provisional and subject to the final outcome of the ongoing writ petition. The court emphasized that such provisional admissions should not confer any inherent rights upon the petitioner.
Prashansa Rathod, hailing from Hyderabad, filed a writ petition challenging GO 114, which stipulates local reservations. The petitioner seeks a declaration that the GO is unconstitutional and violates Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the constitution. She further requests to be recognized as a local candidate for all admission purposes in MBBS and BDS courses for the academic year 2023-24 under the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences in Telangana State.
During the court proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel informed the bench that Prashansa Rathod completed her studies from grades 1 to 10 in Hyderabad. Subsequently, due to her father’s occupation as an IPS Officer, she was relocated to Chennai for intermediate studies and appeared for the NEET exam, where she achieved an impressive rank. Despite her substantial connections to Hyderabad, the authorities did not consider her as a local candidate since she did not complete the last seven years of her education within the State.
After hearing arguments from both the petitioner’s and respondent’s counsels, the court directed the authorities concerned to treat Prashansa Rathod as a local candidate and provisionally admit her to the MBBS/BDS courses based on her NEET rank.