Telangana HC grants interim relief to student seeking MBBS admission amid ‘local candidate’ row

Granting relief to the petitioner, the court stated, “…purely as an interim measure, let the petitioner be also considered for the ongoing counselling treating the petitioner as a local candidate.”

The dispute centres on the recently amended Rule 3 of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admissions Rules, 2017. While the amendment on September 8, 2025, granted exceptions to the children of state government employees posted outside Telangana, it excluded students whose parents worked for the central government.

The petitioner’s counsel, Alluri Divakar Reddy, argued that this exclusion was arbitrary and discriminatory.

The court noted that an identical matter challenging the exclusion of central government employees from the local candidate category (Writ Petition No. 27511 of 2025) is already pending, and a similar interim direction has been granted in that case. Applying the principle of parity, the court extended the same relief to the current petitioner.

It ordered: “Given the said fact that in identical set of facts, this Court has admitted writ petition where challenge is to the said Rule and have also granted interim protection applying the principles of parity, the petitioner also deserved for the similar benefit…”.

The admission, if granted, will remain subject to the final outcome of the present writ petition and the previously filed WP No. 27511 of 2025, the order said.

The standing counsel for KNRUHS, T Sharath, accepted notice on behalf of the respondents and sought time to file a counter affidavit. The court further directed the counsel to issue a necessary telephonic message to the university to act immediately on the interim direction, provided the petitioner meets all other requisites under the admission guidelines.

The petition has been listed to be heard along with WP No. 27511 of 2025.