The Sampadak Express News Desk
Former IAS officer Vijaya Kumar, national president of the Liberation Congress Party, has alleged that Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) is using MBBS admission software that disadvantages Backward Classes (BC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates by restricting their access to open competition seats from the second round of counselling onwards. The allegations were reported by The Hindu on Wednesday.
Vijaya Kumar said the software prevented eligible reserved-category candidates from securing open category seats on merit in subsequent counselling rounds, even when they had higher ranks than applicants from other categories. He claimed the system effectively favoured upper-caste candidates after the first round, depriving meritorious students from reserved communities of fair opportunities.
According to him, while reserved-category candidates comprised more than half of the overall merit list, nearly 90% of candidates moving into open category seats from the second round onwards reportedly belonged to the upper castes.
He argued that the procedure violates the principles of G.O.s 550 and 102, as well as relevant Supreme Court judgments and State Government directives that recognise the right of candidates from all categories to compete for open seats based on merit.
Vijaya Kumar further alleged that the software allows reserved-category candidates to upgrade only their college in later rounds, but blocks them from upgrading their admission category to the open category on the strength of their rank. He cited the case of a BC candidate allotted a reserved-category seat at Guntur Medical College in the first round, arguing such a candidate should be able to seek a better college while still competing for an open category seat according to merit.
He also claimed the platform automatically rearranges a candidate’s college preferences whenever new options are added, adversely affecting the chances of securing category upgradation in subsequent rounds.
Detailing regional patterns, Vijaya Kumar said all candidates admitted under the open category in the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) region belonged to the upper-caste OC category. In the Andhra University (AU) region, only a few BCD candidates reportedly entered the open category through within-college upgradation.
He estimated that around 60 to 70 eligible candidates from reserved communities lost admission opportunities because of these alleged restrictions.
Andhra Pradesh Medical Parents Association president Ala Venkateswarlu demanded immediate action against officials responsible for developing the software.
