The High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the ongoing interviews being conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) for Group-I services. However, it directed that the APPSC should not make appointments based on the interviews till further orders.
A division bench comprising justices Ashutosh Mohunta and KS Appa Rao passed these interim orders on a writ petition seeking stay of all further proceedings in pursuance of the notification issued by the APPSC in 2011.
The bench was dealing with a petition by K Prasad, one of the aspirants of Group-I services. The petitioner moved the High Court after the AP Administrative Tribunal refused to refer questions no. 62 and 107 of the written examination to the expert committee constituted to review the final answer key of the test. He sought reconsideration of these two questions by the committee.
The petitioner’s counsel urged the court to declare as illegal the action of the Commission in allowing the selection process to go on despite there being several mistakes in the final answer key.
The counsel representing the APPSC submitted that the expert committee was constituted based on the directions of the Tribunal and the committee is reviewing the final answer key and the mistakes pointed out by the several aspirants.
The interviews commenced on Jan 28 and will be completed on March 22, he said and urged the court not to stall the interviews.
The bench told the commission to expedite the review of the final answer key and go ahead with the ongoing interviews, but not to make any appointments till the court passes orders. While admitting the petition, the bench issued notices to the APPSC and the state government.