PG dental admissions: HC seeks Telangana govt stand on local candidature dispute | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: The Telangana high court has directed the state govt and Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) to file their counter affidavits within two weeks in a writ petition challenging the criteria for determining local candidature for admission to postgraduate dental (MDS) courses in Telangana.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy passed the order on Sept 21 while hearing a petition filed by Voni Sahith, an aspirant from Warangal district. The petitioner challenged a GO issued by the health, medical and family welfare department in 2024 governing admissions to medical and dental postgraduate courses.Counsel for the petitioner contended that the GO, which applies to admissions to medical and dental colleges in Telangana, including MDS courses, prescribed eligibility criteria that were not covered by an earlier division bench judgement.Opposing the plea, the state relied on a Dec 17, 2024, judgement delivered in a batch of writ petitions. Advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy submitted that the earlier judgement had held that only candidates who completed MBBS, BAMS or BHMS courses in a ‘local area’ as defined under the Presidential Order, 1974, were eligible to participate in counselling for local category seats in Telangana postgraduate courses.The advocate general further informed the court that the petitioner had received a post-matric scholarship from the Telangana govt while pursuing BDS at Konaseema Institute of Medical Sciences Dental College, Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh, during the academic years 2019-20 to 2022-23.He argued that receipt of a scholarship by itself could not confer local candidate status on the petitioner when the dental course had been pursued outside Telangana. The state also contended that treating the petitioner as a local candidate in such circumstances would defeat the object of the local area criteria prescribed under the Presidential Order and the relevant government orders.Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the rival’s contentions, the high court directed the state govt and KNRUHS to place their responses on record and adjourned the matter by two weeks.