Telangana HC Sets Aside Single Judge Order On Group-I Mains Evaluation

(MENAFN- IANS) Hyderabad, Sep 24 (IANS) The Telangana High Court on Wednesday stayed a single judge's order setting aside the results of the Group-I Main examination and directing the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) to manually re-evaluate all answer scripts.

A division bench of the High Court, headed by Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh, allowed TGPSC to go ahead with the appointments for Group-I posts based on the results.

The bench posted the next hearing in the case to October 16 and made it clear that the appointments will be subject to the final order.

The interim order came on a petition filed by TGPSC challenging the September 9 order of the single judge. Justice Namavarapu Rajeswara Rao had set aside the general ranking list and the list of selected candidates. He had directed the Commission to manually re-evaluate all answer scripts using a moderation method, in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.

The single judge had pronounced the orders on the petitions of some candidates, alleging irregularities in the conduct of the elections and evaluation of answer sheets.

He directed the TSPSC to complete the process of re-evaluation and declaration of results in eight months, failing which the Main exams will be cancelled and a re-exam will be conducted for all the candidates who passed the Prelims.

The Commission, in its appeal against the single judge order, argued that it was erroneous, contrary to law and failed to consider key materials placed before the court.

Advocate General Sudershan Reddy argued that there is no evidence to prove that there was any bias against the candidates who wrote answers in Telugu.

About 30,000 students had appeared in the Group 1 Mains exams conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) from October 21 to 27, 2024, to fill 563 Group-I posts in various departments.

A total of 31,383 candidates had applied for the exams. These candidates qualified for the Group-1 Mains examination out of around 3.02 lakh who appeared for the preliminary examination held in June.

This was the first time after the formation of Telangana State that Group-I Mains exams were held. The last time the exams were held was in 2011 in united Andhra Pradesh.

The results of the Main exam were announced on March 10, and subsequently, a general ranking list and a list of selected candidates were released.

The Group-1 prelims have been marred by controversies over paper leaks and legal battles for not following the norms and irregularities in 2022 and 2023.

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