TAHSILDAR HYDERABAD Vs. T VENKATA REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Who is a local candidate within the meaning of the Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission) Order (1974) (hereinafter called the Presidential Order) in the State of Andhra Pradesh. This is the crucial question which we will have to answer in these three matters.

(2.) Let us state the circumstances in which the question arose in the first of the three cases viz., W.A. No. 706 of 1975. The respondent applied for admission into the medical course in the Osmania University. His father has been the Legal Assistant in the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Central Land Mortgage Bank and has been residing in the city of Hyderabad with his family from 1963. His son, the respondent, studied in the city of Hyderabad upto the year 1969 and passed his 7th class examination held in April 1969. It is alleged that there is no reason to doubt it, in fact it is not denied in the counter-affidavits, that his parents sent him to study in the Zilla Parishad High School, Biccavole on account of raging Telengana agitation in the city at that time, dislocating and disturbing the even life of this area and the studies of the students. With the result, the boy completed his 8th, 9th and 10th classes in Biccavole, during which time his parents were living in Hyderabad. Whenever there were no classes in Biccavole he used to come back to his home at Hyderabad. After completion of the 10th class, he joined the Intermediate course in the New Science College, Ameerpet, Hyderabad in 1972. During 1972-73 he completed his Intermediate course. He first took his final examination in May, 1974. Though he got through the examination, he did not get adequate number of marks for the purpose of applying for admission into the medical course. He once again appeared for the examination in December, 1974 and this time he got through with 62% in group subjects. Thereafter, he applied to the lst appellant viz., the Tahsildar, Hyderabad Urban Taluk, for a certificate that he is a local candidate within the meaning of the Presidential order. That Officer, however, refused to give the certificate. Thereupon, he filed W.P. No. 4203/75 seeking an appropriate writ declaring that he is a local candidate within the meaning of paragraph 4 (b) of the Presidential order and directing the lst appellant to issue a certificate to that effect to enable him to sit at the entrance examination for admission into the Government Medical Colleges in Telangana area. In addition to the lst appellant the Director of Medical and Health Services, Hyderabad was also impleaded as the other respondent in the writ petition. Ramachandra Rao, J, allowed the writ petition and issued a mandamus to the lst appellant to issue a certificate to the respondent that he is a local candidate from the Telangana area. This appeal is against that decision of the learned Judge. To complete the statement of events which have happened in the case under the orders of he court the respondent was permitted to sit for the entrance ex and we were informed at the time of the arguments of the appeal that the respondent was given admission into the Medical College in Telangana area as a non-local candidate.

(3.) The contention of the respondent is that he does not satisfy the requirements of paragraph 4 (a) of the Presidential Order, since he had not studied for four consecutive academic years ending with the academic year in which he appeared for the qualifying examination. He, however, takes the stand that he comes clearly within the ambit of sub-paragraph (b), because he had resided in Hyderabad for a period of not less than four years immediately preceding the date of the commencement of the relevant qualifying examination in which he appeared. This contention is on the basis that his parents have been residing in the city even since 1963, that he was brought up in the city itself, educated there upto 1969 and was sent out for three years as it became impossible to study in the city on account of the Telangana Agitation and that after the agitation subsided he was again put back in a city College where he completed the qualifying course. Thus, his family and this residence has been in Hyderabad right from 1963 despite the fact that he stayed in Biccavole for three years for the purpose of continuing his studies without disruption.