HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has directed the state government and the KNR University of Health Sciences to treat Anamta Farook, the petitioner, as a local candidate for admission to MBBS and BDS courses for the academic year 2024-25.
The petitioner had moved court seeking directions to the KNRUHS to recognise her as a local candidate under Rule 3(a)(ii) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges (Admission into MBBS/BDS Courses) Rules, 2017. She argued that despite residing in Telangana since 2019 and passing her XI and XII examinations from the state, the university had arbitrarily denied her local candidate status.
Farook had studied in Dubai from 1998 to 2008 before relocating to Telangana in 2019. Citing her continuous residence in Telangana since then, along with a certificate issued by the tahsildar of Serilingampally, Farook contended that she fulfilled the requirements under Rule 3(a)(ii), which allows for local candidate status if the applicant has resided in the state for at least four years or completed their qualifying examination in Telangana.
Counsel for KNRUHS, however, argued that Farook had not met the rule’s stipulation of studying for four consecutive years in the state, rendering her ineligible for local candidate status.
After reviewing the provisions of Rule 3(a)(ii), a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao found that Farook met the residency requirement, having resided in Telangana since 2019, and had passed her qualifying examination within the state.