Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili of Telangana High Court on Wednesday would hear a writ petition challenging the Telangana government’s action in reserving 100% of MBBS/BDS seats only to students of Telangana State under ‘Competent Authority Quota’ (convenor quota).
The plea was filed on Tuesday by Potabattuni Chandra Shekhar from NTR district of neighboring Andhra Pradesh in the form of lunch motion. Justice Shavili, who heard the petition, posted the matter to today (Wednesday) after the government counsel sought time to respond on the issues raised by the petitioner.
The petitioner sought a direction staying the operation of Government Order (GO) Ms. No. 72 issued on July 3 by Directorate of Medical Education reserving all the seats in MBBS/BDS programmes to students hailing only from Telangana in colleges established after June 2, 2014. He also wanted to suspend operation of the prospectus of proceedings and regulations issued by Kaloji Narayanarao University of Health Sciences based on the said GO.
Mr. Shekhar’s daughter completed plus two education in 2022 and secured 343 marks in NEET 2022. She underwent long-term coaching and got 544 marks with All India Rank of 68,913 in NEET 2023. Hoping to secure MBBS seat, the student was intending to apply for counselling in Telangana. The petitioner stated the GO 72 came as a jolt to her daughter.
According to the petitioner, ‘the discriminatory reservation policy’ violated Section 95 and other provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act- 2014. It also contravened special provisions laid down under Article 371-D of the Constitution of India. The said Article safeguards interests of different regions and local candidates of the Telugu States but the GO 72 completely excluded non-local candidates from availing seats in Telangana medical colleges, the petitioner said.
Due to GO 72, all 85% MBBS/BDS seats under convenor quota would be exclusively allotted to only students from Telangana region. The students from Andhra Pradesh would not be allowed to secure seats in Telangana medical colleges. The remaining 15% pool of central pool seats would remain unchanged. These seats can be claimed by students from all over country including AP and Telangana on merit basis.
The petitioner maintained that KNUHS cannot be the competent authority to determine actions and policies of Telangana Directorate of Medical Education. Details of the changes made with regard to admissions were also not kept in public domain for reasons best known to them, the petitioner stated.
