A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas at the Telangana High Court has directed the state government to reconsider the local candidate status of a petitioner, Chepuri Avinash, within 24 hours for his admission into MBBS and BDS courses. This decision came after Avinash filed a writ petition challenging a notification from August 27 that labeled him a non-local candidate.
During the hearing, Avinash's senior counsel argued that he had been classified as a local candidate the previous year under a court order dated August 31, 2023, and claimed that the current designation was unfair. The counsel emphasized that Avinash, selected by the Government of Telangana to attend Military School in Dehradun, fulfills the criteria outlined in Rule 3(a)(ii) of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admissions Rules, 2017. After reviewing the case, the bench acknowledged its validity and instructed the authorities to reassess Avinash's classification.
In a separate case, the Telangana High Court also sought the state government's response to a writ petition challenging Government Order 33 (GO 33), which increased reservations for Scheduled Tribes in education and government services from 6% to 10%. Petitioners, led by Aadhaar Society chairman Gondi Venkataramulu, argued that the order is illegal and unconstitutional, violating Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality and prohibit discrimination.
The petitioners requested that the state conduct a thorough investigation into the socioeconomic conditions of Scheduled Tribes in Telangana and identify the most disadvantaged groups within the community. They proposed a sub-classification to exclude the "creamy layer" from benefiting from reservations, asserting that this approach is necessary to ensure that the intended assistance reaches the genuinely needy and marginalized sections of the ST community.