VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued interim orders staying for four weeks the interviews for Group-I aspirants scheduled to commence from Thursday.The High Court was hearing a batch of petitions filed challenging the decision of the AP Public Service Commission (APPSC) to entrust the task of evaluating the examinations conducted by it with a third party. The court said that the APPSC was entrusted with the responsibility of appointing civil servants and it has a Constitutional responsibility to fulfil it. The APPSC should not take it as a routine administrative responsibility, the court observed.
The court said that the main issues that arise in the case are the decision to entrust the task of digital evaluation of examination papers with a third party, how the third party was chosen and the expertise of the third party in digital evaluation. The court said as per the minutes of the APPSC meeting held on October 28, 2020, it was decided to get digital evaluation of the papers. However, the question remains whether all the rules were followed in picking up the third party, it observed.
The court also said that in the APPSC counter, there was no mention of the third party. The counter did not specifically mention whether the third party was selected through an open tender or some other manner. Admitting that the identity of those who are evaluating the papers of competitive examinations should not be revealed, the court said the APPSC, however, has to make public the expertise of the third party and its previous experience as the aspirants were raising concerns.To the APPSC contention that they had informed about the digital evaluation in their web note on December 12, 2020, the court observed that there was no mention of digital evaluation in the web note.
The court further said the APPSC has made a reference to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court judgment in support of digital evaluation of examination papers. The J&K PSC had only outsourced the job of scanning the answer sheets, not evaluation, the court pointed out. Making these observations, Justice DVSS Somayajulu issued interim stay orders on conduct of interviews. Following the court orders, the APPSC secretary PSR Anjaneyulu, in a web note, said the interviews scheduled from Thursday to July 7 have been postponed for four weeks.