HYDERABAD: In a major blow to the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC), the high court on Tuesday cancelled the final marks list released on March 10 and the General Ranking List issued on March 30.
Justice Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao directed the Commission to manually re-evaluate the answer scripts of the candidates using the moderation method laid down in the Sanjay Singh vs State of UP Public Service Commission case and declare revised results within eight weeks.
The court warned that if the TGPSC fails to comply, it would have no choice but to cancel the entire examination and order a re-test. The entire exercise must be completed within eight months, the judge added.
With this ruling, the high court disposed of all 12 petitions filed over alleged irregularities in the exam process. During the hearings, senior advocates G Vidya Sagar, KS Murthy and B Rachna, representing the petitioners, argued that the TGPSC had conducted the competitive exam in a ‘haphazard and unfair manner’.
They said the Commission, despite being a constitutional body, failed to notify key procedures like multiple rounds of evaluation, moderation, and re-evaluation, which should have been made public through a gazette notification.
‘TGPSC failed to learn from its mistakes’
They alleged serious lapses like some candidates being issued two hall ticket numbers, unqualified evaluators assessing Telugu-medium scripts, wide gap in pass percentages between English (30%) and Telugu medium (18%) candidates and irregular biometric checks. They also questioned the credibility of the claim that all exam centres were monitored through CCTV cameras.
After examining arguments, case laws and records, the HC held that the Commission had failed to maintain transparency, acted in a biased manner, and even deviated from its own rules.
“The Commission’s negligence and inefficiency have directly hurt unemployed youth of Telangana, many of whom spent huge sums on coaching, studied 10–12 hours daily, and even quit jobs to prepare for this exam,” Justice Rajeshwar Rao observed.
He also noted that despite two earlier cancellations of Group-I exams, the Commission had failed to learn from its mistakes. He had reserved judgment on July 7 after extensive hearings and delivered the order after two months of deliberation.
HC order on Gr-I exam a slap in face of govt: BJP
Hyderabad: State BJP president N Ramachandra Rao welcomed the high court ruling scrapping Group-I Main examination and termed the verdict a slap in the face of the state government. In a statement on Tuesday, he said that the court’s decision is a direct result of the BJP’s persistent fight in support of the Group-I aspirants.
He termed the Congress government incompetent that ‘can’t even conduct a single exam properly’. Accusing the Revanth Reddy government of playing with the lives of thousands of aspirants, Ramachender Rao said that the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TGPSC) of adopting flawed procedures from issuing notification to the answer scripts evaluation.