HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, on Tuesday granted 24 hours to the state government and Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) to respond to a writ petition challenging the denial of local candidate status for MBBS/BDS admissions.
The petition, filed by S Shashikiran, seeks a declaration that KNRUHS’s action in not treating him as a local candidate for admission to MBBS/BDS courses for the academic year 2025-26 under NEET (UG) is “illegal, arbitrary and violative” of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, as well as contrary to Section 95 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014.
Shashikiran studied Classes I to VIII in Telangana before joining Sainik School, Korukonda (Andhra Pradesh) under the Telangana state quota for Classes IX to XII between 2020 and 2024. Despite his background, the university denied him local candidate status based on GO Ms No 33 (July 19, 2024) and its subsequent amendment through GO Ms No 150 (Sept 8, 2025).
Arguing that this denial is discriminatory, the petitioner’s counsel relied on a July 24, 2025 high court order in a similar case concerning admission to engineering courses of a candidate who studied in a Sainik school in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Counsel representing the state and KNRUHS sought short time to obtain instructions. The matter has been listed for further hearing on Tuesday.