Telangana High Court seeks government response in MDS local-status case

The Telangana High Court has directed the State government to file a counter affidavit in a petition challenging the classification of a BDS graduate as a non-local candidate for admission to an MDS course. The petition was filed by 27-year-old Voni Sahith, a Scheduled Tribe student from Kashibugga in Warangal district. He challenged the decision of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences concerning admissions for the 2026-27 academic year.

The Advocate General, A. Sudarshan Reddy, told the court that a co-ordinate bench had held that only candidates who completed MBBS, BAMS or BHMS in the local area defined by the Presidential Order of 1974 were entitled to admission to postgraduate medical courses. The government argued that Sahith could not be treated as a local candidate because he had received a Telangana government scholarship to study BDS at a medical college in Andhra Pradesh.

The Advocate General said accepting the petitioner’s position would defeat the purpose of the local-category criteria in the Presidential Order. Sahith’s counsel, A. Diwakar Reddy, argued that the earlier High Court ruling concerned admissions to Telangana dental colleges, including MDS courses, and that the criteria were being challenged in the present petition.

After hearing the submissions, the bench directed the State government to file its counter affidavit within two weeks. The order leaves the petitioner’s local-status claim unresolved pending the government’s response. The case concerns the application of regional eligibility rules to postgraduate dental admissions and the effect of studying outside Telangana under a state scholarship.