NEW DELHI: The government of Telangana on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the high court order directing that permanent residents of the state who are eligible for admission into MBBS and BDS courses based on merit cannot be denied the benefit of admission in the state merely because of their study or residence outside Telangana.
Senior lawyer Gopal Sankarnaryanan, appearing for Telangana government, mentioned the matter before the three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. The CJI assured him that his plea will be considered for listing. “Send me an email, I will see it and list it accordingly,” the CJI said.
He, however, refused to give a date for a hearing into the plea.
On September 5, a division bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao, allowed a batch of 53 writ petitions challenging the validity of Rule 3(a) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admission (MBBS and BDS Courses) Rules, 2017, as amended by Government Order (GO) 33, dated July 19, 2024.
The petitioners, who are permanent residents of Telangana, sought to be treated as local candidates for admission in MBBS and BDS courses under the 85% local quota in the state’s medical colleges.
They argued that Rule 3(a), which pertains to the criteria for local candidates, violated their rights as they had completed their intermediate education in Andhra Pradesh and other neighbouring states but were still permanent residents of Telangana.
Domicile status
The high court, after examining the arguments presented, directed that Rule 3(a) should be interpreted to include students who are permanent residents of Telangana, even if they had completed their education outside the state.
The court clarified that the petitioners would be eligible for admission under the local quota, provided they can prove their domicile or permanent residency in Telangana.
The court also noted the absence of clear guidelines from the state government to determine a student’s permanent residency or domicile status. As a result, the bench granted the state government the liberty to frame guidelines to define when a student qualifies as a permanent resident of the state. The university will then apply these guidelines on a case-by-case basis.
