The Telangana High Court Monday granted an Odisha resident, a petitioner in a dispute over MBBS/BDS admissions under the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota, the liberty to file a representation with the Warangal-based KNR University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) after he missed the deadline for exercising his web options. The petitioner from Odisha applied and registered for MBBS/BDS admission under the management quota and later submitted an application (with fees) for the NRI quota on September 19, 2025. He scored 169/720 in NEET with an All India General Category Rank of 9,52,103. Due to technical issues, he could not exercise his web option for the NRI quota before the deadline of 2 pm on September 24, 2025. The petitioner approached the court after the KNRUHS (Respondent No. 2) did not entertain his request. The counsel for KNRUHS opposed the petitioner’s claim, referring to a notification dated September 22, 2025. The university cited the notification and instructions stating that candidates who do not exercise the web option in the first counselling phase are not eligible for subsequent phases to prevent seat blocking. Corrigenda dated October 4 and 6, 2025, allowed fresh registration only for those who had exercised the web option earlier, which the petitioner had not, the counsel added. The court, after hearing both sides, granted the petitioner liberty to make a representation to the university regarding his claim for exercising the web option under the NRI quota. While giving this relief, the bench made a pronouncement regarding the legal implications. The judge directed: "The University would consider his representation in accordance with law within a period of two days or in the leftover in mop up counselling because they have to exercise web option. If the university considers it, allows the petitioner to exercise the web option, his case can be considered for unfilled seats in the mop up round.” The court, however, clarified that it has not expressed any opinion on the “merits of the case”.
