After ruling in Anamta Farook’s favor, the Telangana High Court ordered the state government and KNR University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) to consider her as a local candidate for admission to MBBS and BDS programs beginning in the 2024–2025 academic year. In accordance with Rule 3(a)(ii) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges (Admission into MBBS/BDS Courses) Rules, 2017, Farook had petitioned the court to be declared a local candidate.
In 2019, Farook moved to Telangana after studying in Dubai from 1998 to 2008. She completed her XI and XII exams from the state and claimed that she had been consistently residing in Telangana since 2019. Rule 3(a)(ii), which states that an applicant may be deemed a local candidate if they have resided in the state for at least four consecutive years or finished their qualifying examination in Telangana, is the foundation around which Farook built her case.
Farook provided evidence of her continuous residency in Telangana in the form of a residence certificate from the Serilingampally tahsildar. In spite of this, KNRUHS had refused her status as a local candidate, claiming that she had not fulfilled the rule’s prerequisite of completing four years of study in Telangana in order to be eligible for local status.
Considering that she had completed her qualifying exams and met the residency requirements in the state, Farook argued that the university’s interpretation was arbitrary. Her attorney said that the regulation permitted local candidate status by virtue of four years of residency or passing the Telangana qualifying examinations.
After reviewing Rule 3(a)(ii)’s provisions, the bench—which included Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao—sided with Farook. After determining that Farook had lived in Telangana since 2019 and had passed her qualifying exams there, they came to the conclusion that she satisfied the residency requirements. The court determined that she had a right to be acknowledged as a qualified local applicant for admission to BDS and MBBS programs.
This decision emphasizes how crucial it is to correctly understand the requirements for local status, including residency and qualification. It guarantees that applicants for medical and dentistry admissions who have actually lived in Telangana and finished their schooling there won’t be unfairly disqualified from consideration as local candidates. The court’s ruling is anticipated to shed light on future instances that are comparable to this one.
SOURCE :
INDIAN EXPRESS
