Telangana HC orders interim suspension of single judge direction on Group 1 services exam

HYDERABAD : In a relief to the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC), the High Court on Wednesday ordered interim suspension of the order of a single judge directing the Commission, among others, to re-evaluate all the answer scripts of the Group-1 mains examination held last year.

Hearing writ appeals filed by the Commission and some "successful" candidates against the HC's single judge order on September 9, a bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and G M Mohiuddin also directed that any appointments made in the meantime shall be subject to the outcome of the writ appeals. The matter was posted to October 15 for next hearing.

"In the meantime, there shall be interim suspension of the operative direction contained in paragraph No.372 of the impugned order," the High Court said in its order. The counsel of the Commission and the successful candidates in their writ appeals prayed for stay of the impugned order issued on September 9. They contended that the writ Court (of single judge) had committed serious error in holding that the examination suffered from transparency and integrity as the Commission deviated from its own rules and acted in a biased manner.

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The counsel submitted that there is no allegation or proof of any leakage of question paper or answer sheets or mass irregularity in the conduct of the examination. The counsel for the writ petitioners have argued in support of the order rendered by writ Court.

In its order on September 9, the writ Court set aside the Final Marks List as well as the General Ranking List announced by the TGPSC in March this year. It further issued alternative directions either to re-evaluate the answer sheets of the Group-I examination by applying the moderation method in terms of a Supreme Court order manually and announce the results or to cancel the Group-I Mains Examination and re-conduct it for those who have succeeded in the prelims examination. The September 9 order came on a batch of petitions filed by Group-I aspirants alleging irregularities in the examination.