Section 20 of Telangana Education Act challenged Group-I aspirants move high court against GO 29
Justice Pulla Karthik of the Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the state government and the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) to file counter affidavits before the written Group-I Mains. The judge was hearing a writ petition filed by M Hanuman and three other aspirants of the Group-I Services. The petitioners, all belonging to reserved categories-BC-B, SC, ST, and BC-A, challenged the TGPSC’s procedure in applying the Rule of Reservation.
They argue that the TGPSC did not independently apply the Rule of Reservation for each reserved category at a 1:50 ratio for the main examination, as per the notification dated February 19, 2024. Additionally, they questioned the validity of GO 29, dated February 8, 2024, which amended GO 55, dated April 25, 2022.
According to the petitioners, the TGPSC’s process of selecting candidates for the Group-I Mains violates the scheme of reservation and the Supreme Court’s established legal framework. The TGPSC has notified a total of 563 Group-I vacancies, distributed as follows: General/Open category (209), EWS (49), BC(A) (44), BC(B) (37), BC(C) (13), BC(D) (22), BC(E) (16), SC (93), ST (52), Sports (4), and Physically Handicapped (24).
Instead of selecting candidates at a 1:50 ratio for each reserved category based on their respective vacancies, the TGPSC aggregated the total vacancies across all categories (563) and then applied a 1:50 ratio. Subsequently, a separate list was prepared for the shortfall vacancies from the reserved categories. The petitioners argue that this approach contradicts the reservation scheme and deprives candidates from reserved categories of their rightful opportunity to participate in the written Group-I Mains. After hearing the arguments from the petitioners’ counsel, Justice Karthik issued notices to the TGPSC, directing them to submit their counters well in advance of the main examination and scheduled the next hearing for September 27, 2024.
Section 20 of Telangana Education Act challenged
The Telangana High Court was on Thursday urged to direct the Higher Education department to conduct a fresh mop-up round of counselling for the TGEAPCET for the academic year 2024-25 or to allow engineering colleges to fill the seats through spot admissions. A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao was hearing a batch of 11 writ petitions filed by MGR Educational Society and others, challenging the application of Section 20 of the Telangana Education Act, 1982, by the state government represented by the principal secretary, Higher Education department.
The petitioners argued that this Section as applied by the state in relation to the AICTE approvals granted under Section 10(k) of the AICTE Act, 1987, is unconstitutional and should be struck down for being violative of Article 254 of the Constitution. They requested that the court interpret Section 20 to apply only when a prior educational survey is conducted before the AICTE considers fresh or renewal applications for the upcoming academic year. This interpretation would bring the section into harmony with Regulation 6(2) of the AICTE Regulations and Section 10(k) of the AICTE Act, 1987, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, the petitioners said. After considering the contentions of the petitioners, the bench adjourned the hearing to September 4.