Days after the Telangana government tweaked its Medical and Dental Colleges Admissions Rules of 2017, allowing all seats in medical colleges — established after June 2, 2014 — to be reserved exclusively for students from the state, it is anticipated that the Andhra Pradesh government will take a similar decision, either simultaneously or shortly thereafter, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
If the Andhra government issues such an order, as many as 123 postgraduate (PG) and 580 undergraduate (UG) seats would be added to the unreserved category in 16 government and 18 private colleges - established after the bifurcation of the state.
A total of 12 medical colleges with 850 seats were established after June 2, 2014 in Andhra Pradesh. Of the total, five are private and the remaining are government institutes. Of the total seats, only 194 seats are meant for the unreserved category.
According to the current policy, 85% of seats in institutions not controlled by the Union government are reserved for local candidates under the competent authority quota, while 15% of seats are marked unreserved.
Each college is required to designate 15% of its competent authority quota seats as unreserved with a focus on maintaining reservations for these seats as much as possible in colleges established before June 2, 2014.
However, the Telangana government recently announced an amendment to reserve all 100% seats for medical students of the state. This has become a cause of concern for parents of students from Andhra Pradesh as they will lose the opportunity to secure a seat in the colleges established in the neighbouring State after the bifurcation.
Telangana's decision to affect AP
Following this, the AP Parents' Association voiced their concerns to the Vice-Chancellor of Dr YSR University of Health Sciences, stating that the Telangana government's decision will adversely affect students studying in the zones of Andhra University and Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) in Andhra Pradesh.
As of now, there are a total of 6,109 UG and 2,708 PG seats available in government and private medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh. These include the five government colleges that were recently approved for the academic year 2023-24, as well as Padmavathi Medical College under SVU limits.
Of the total, 2,450 UG seats and 821 PG seats were assigned to students in Andhra Pradesh following the bifurcation. If the Andhra Pradesh government decides to adopt a similar policy to Telangana, 15% of the competent authority quota seats will be allocated to students from the AU and SVU regions only.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Dr YSR University of Health Sciences Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Korukonda Babji confirmed that he has received a complaint from the AP Parents' Association regarding the Telangana government's GO (government order). He stated that they are currently analysing the facts and will update the government accordingly. The final decision rests with the government, he added.
