GUNTUR: As many as 8,351 candidates who have been selected for the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) Mains examination, scheduled between April 7 and 19, are in a dilemma if the exam will be held as per the schedule due to continuous postponing for the past two times, since December, 2019.
Some aspirants had filed three writ petitions in the High Court seeking annulment of Group 1 examination, citing alleged errors and denial of use of calculator in the test held on May 26, 2019. As the HC has postponed the case for hearing on March 16, the candidates are worrying and demanding that the Mains exams be conducted as per schedule announced by the APPSC.
Candidates R Subba Rao and M Srinivasa Rao (names changed) expressed displeasure and said that they would have moved ahead in their careers had the Mains exam been over in December, but repeated postponements had put their careers in a dilemma. They posed a question. “Should we prepare further by taking leave or should we go back to our old jobs?” They alleged that conducting this year’s group 1 examination was a credibility issue for the commission.
Any further postponement of Group 1 exam will severely undermine the commission’s credibility, they said. They mentioned that AP Public Service Commission (APPSC) and Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) must maintain standards and stick to schedules. They demanded that the APPSC must study and follow how UPSC had been so perfect in conducting exams.
APPSC had released Group 1 examination notification 15 months ago on 18 December, 2018 and conducted the prelims examination in May 2019.