HYDERABAD: Telangana High Court recently directed the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) to re-evaluate and finalise the selection process of Group-II candidates of 2019 within eight weeks.
Considering the daunting nature of this exercise, TGPSC is planning to take legal recourse soon. According to sources, the court has set aside the selection of 1,032 candidates over alleged tampering of OMR answer sheets and asked the Commission to re-check them.
Internal discussions are underway within TGPSC on seeking legal support, as the re-verification process is expected to be extremely difficult. A senior TGPSC officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “The Commission is planning to seek legal support, but no official orders have been issued yet.
As per the court’s directive, we need to re-evaluate the Group-II (2019) results. However, the process is highly challenging because the court has given only eight weeks to complete the entire exercise, which includes re-scanning and re-evaluating the OMR sheets and physically verifying the answer scripts. This exam was conducted nearly a decade ago, and we are unsure about the current condition of the answer sheets, which have been stored in lockers. Hence, we are considering legal support.”
A few petitioners pointed out that TGPSC had issued a notification for 1,032 Group-II posts in 2015. The examinations were held in November 2016, and the results were released in 2019. However, OMR mismatches were reportedly found in some centres, prompting several candidates to file petitions challenging the evaluation process. Around 55 candidates missed qualifying by just half a mark.
Their petition in the Supreme Court was rejected, and a case was later filed in the high court.
Kranthi Kumar, one of the petitioners, said, “During the exam, several centres reported OMR mismatches, bubbling errors, and tampering. I am also one of the victims. To get justice, we filed six petitions because many of us missed qualifying by just half a mark. After so many years, the Telangana high court has finally given a verdict in our favour, and we are hoping for justice.”
She added, “Although candidates who were appointed on merit will not be affected, those who were appointed six years ago are now in a dilemma because their jobs may be at risk. We are hoping that after the eight-week process, a fair outcome will be delivered.”