HYDERABAD: In major relief to 563 successful Group-1 candidates, a bench of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday suspended an earlier order of a single judge that had set aside the results.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, allowed the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) to issue appointment orders. It clarified that all appointments would remain provisional, subject to the outcome of writ appeals pending before the court.
The appeals are scheduled for further hearing on October 15, 2025, with both sides required to submit written synopses by October 10, 2025.
Earlier, on September 9, 2025, Justice N Rajeshwar Rao had set aside the final marks list (March 10, 2025) and general ranking list (March 30, 2025), directing TGPSC to manually re-evaluate all Group-1 Mains
answer scripts following the method in Sanjay Singh vs. UPPSC (2007). If that proved unfeasible, a fresh Mains examination was to be conducted for all candidates who cleared prelims, Justice Rajeshwar Rao had said.
Administrative decisions cannot be deemed malafide: HC
TGPSC and the successful candidates challenged this, arguing there was no evidence of malpractice, question paper leakage, or large-scale irregularities.
They said the Commission had followed all rules and procedures, and the single judge’s order had cast a “serious stigma” on a constitutional body. Writ petitioners maintained that the evaluation lacked transparency and procedural backing, supporting the single judge’s decision.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Singh questioned the single judge’s remarks describing a “lack of transparency,” “bias,” and “integrity,” noting these suggested mala fides without identifying any specific misconduct. He asked if there had been mass copying, question paper leakage, or undue influence on TGPSC. Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy replied in the negative.
The chief justice added that administrative decisions could not be deemed mala fide. He also enquired if this was the first Group-I recruitment since Telangana’s formation. The A-G confirmed that the previous exam had been held in 2011, making this the first in 14 years.