Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Telangana HC Decision Which Struck Down Local Quota Criteria For PG Medical Admissions

The Supreme Court recently refused to stay a Telangana High Court judgment which struck down amended criteria for determining 'local' status of candidates in post-graduate medical admissions.For context, the provisions struck down by the High Court(on December 17, 2024) included explanation clause (b) to Rule 8(ii) of the Telangana Medical Colleges (Admission into Post Graduate Medical Courses) Rules, 2021 (and a similar clause under the AYUSH course rules), which sought to impose a stricter criteria for determining 'local' status of a candidate.A bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih passed the order, stating, "we are afraid that such a prayer can not be granted without hearing the petition on merits. The High Court by an elaborate judgment has set aside certain provisions of law. Unless we find that the reasoning as adopted by the High Court is erroneous, in our view, an interim order to the effect of staying the impugned judgment and order would not be in the interest of justice".Insofar as it was argued that the impugned judgment would exclude from the counselling process certain in-service candidates, who completed their 9th-12th standard studies from Telangana, but pursued MBBS from outside the state and thereafter started working in government colleges/hospitals, the Court was of the view that the operative part of the judgment did not have that effect."We are of the view that the operative part of the impugned judgment and order does not have the effect of excluding the students, who have passed 9th to 12th standard from the State of Telangana and are working with the Government of Telangana from the process of counselling only on the ground that they have completed their MBBS outside the State of Telangana."It further added: "If the State desires to do something to facilitate counselling for them, we do not find that the impugned judgment and order would come in the way".Briefly stated, nearly 100 writ petitions were filed before the High Court challenging the PG medical course admission rules amended by Telangana government on October 28, 2024.Prior to the amendment, candidates who completed their medical degrees from institutions located in the 'local area' (as defined by the 1974 Presidential Order) were considered local candidates. However, the amendment stipulated that candidates admitted to MBBS/AYUSH (UG) courses under the 'Non-Local Quota' in Telangana would not be eligible to be treated as local candidates.Disposing of the writ petitions, the High Court held that candidates who completed MMBS/BAMS/BHMS courses from Telangana or 'local area' (as defined in the Presidential Order, 1974) would be entitled to participate in PG medical admission counselling process for academic session 2024-25. Challenging this judgment, State of Telangana approached the Supreme Court.Appearance: Senior Advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan, K Parameswar and S Sriram (for petitioners); Senior Advocate Niranjan Reddy for respondent(s)Case Title: THE STATE OF TELANGANA VERSUS S. SATYANARANA & ORS., SLP(C) Nos. 30706-30708/2024 Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Telangana HC Decision Which Struck Down Local Quota Criteria For PG Medical Admissions

Debby Jain

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