Telangana HC seeks govt stand on MDS local candidature criteria

The Telangana High Court has directed the state government and Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences to file counter affidavits within two weeks on a petition challenging local candidature criteria for MDS admissions. A division bench heard the plea of Voni Sahith, an aspirant from Warangal who was declared ineligible under the Competent Authority Quota for 2026-27.

The petitioner's counsel argued that GO Ms No 62 of 2024 governing dental college admissions in Telangana was not considered in an earlier court judgment relied upon by the state. The Advocate General submitted that a December 2024 judgment held only candidates who completed MBBS, BAMS or BHMS in a local area are eligible for local category seats in postgraduate courses. He noted the petitioner received a Telangana post-matric scholarship while pursuing BDS in Andhra Pradesh from 2019-20 to 2022-23, but argued this alone could not confer local status. The court adjourned the matter for two weeks without expressing opinion on merits.

Separately, KNRUHS on September 26 disqualified 37 candidates from claiming ST reservation benefits for MBBS/BDS admissions after the Tribal Welfare Department traced their origin to Andhra Pradesh. Nine candidates who had been conditionally allotted MBBS seats in earlier counselling rounds had their allotments cancelled. The vacant seats will return to the ST quota for the third counselling phase.