Group 1 in limbo: TSPSC plea to Supreme Court withdrawing SLP; new jobs raise many questions

HYDERABAD: Is it an effort to expedite or delay the process of recruitment of Group 1 services. I

The Telangana Government is now contemplating scrapping the examination conducted for a second time obeying the Telangana High Court Division Bench order and commence the whole process again.

If that is done, the process will further delay the recruitment and aspirants will be forced to take the preliminary examinations for a third time.

The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to withdraw its special leave petition filed in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court's decision to cancel the Group-1 preliminary examination in the state. The TSPSC filed an appeal on February 8 on seeking permission to withdraw this

SLP filed on October 21 last year.

It is likely to come up for hearing on on February 19.

What happens if Supreme Court allows withdrawal of SLP?

If the Supreme Court allows the withdrawal of the case, the preliminary examination conducted for a second time will automatically stand cancelled, compelling the Group 1 aspirants to take the examination for a third time.

The fate of the Group 1 examination hinges on the decision of the Supreme Court.

It may be recalled that the TSPSC issued notification for 503 Group-1 officers posts in April 2022.

This was in accordance with the job calendar issued by the erstwhile KCR Government.

The preliminary examination was held on October 16 of the same year. The TSPSC canceled this exam due to leakage of question papers. The Commission conducted the examination again on June 11, 2023 for a second time. About 2.33 lakh aspirants took the examination.

However, several candidates approached the High Court seeking justice in view of the errors in the conduct of the Group 1 examination conducted for a second time. They contended that the biometrics of the candidates were not taken, and the hall ticket registration number given on the day of the preliminary examination did not match with the number given during the final key.

While the High Court single judge court ruled that the examination should be cancelled and re-conducted, even the Division Bench also upheld the same.

As a result, the TSPSC discussed the issue with legal experts and filed an SLP in the Supreme Court. However, the petition has not been heard since October.

Change of guard

However, after the change of guard in the State, the Congress government had ensured that the entire board of the TSPSC resigned and had a new Board reconstituted with former Telangana DGP M Mahender Reddy as its chairman.

In line with the State Government’s views, the

TSPSC appealed to the Supreme Court to allow the Board to withdraw the SLP.

The Commission is now deliberating threadbare to arrive at a decision on the Group-1 examination.

The decision to appeal in the Supreme Court seeking withdrawal of the SLP was also said be taken as trial would be a long-drawn process.

Meanwhile, the State government announced that it was in favour of conducting the Group-1 examination afresh. Recently, the State Government sanctioned 60 more Group 1 posts and asked the TSPSC to fill them.

Many questions now

♦️However, it is not clear whether the newly created 60 jobs would be added to the 503 posts in 2022?

♦️If the answer is in the affirmative, will the process of filling the jobs would be done considering only those who had already applied and appeared for the two cancelled preliminary examinations?

♦️Or, will the entire application process be commenced afresh?

♦️Or, would the TSPSC notify these 60 Group 1 jobs?

♦️Will the newly identified jobs be added to the exiting 503 and the process continued?

While there is a serious discussion going on on all these aspects within the government and also the TSPSC, how the candidates would react is not known.

♦️What if a meritorious aspirant appeals to the Supreme Court not to club the new posts or club them in the event of the TSPSC seeking to notify these new posts separately?

♦️What if any applicants approach the Supreme Court not to allow the TSPSC to withdraw the SLP and let the law take its own course?

♦️⁠What if another fresh petition comes up before the court of law seeking clubbing of thee new posts and choosing suitors from among the existing applicants?

♦️Or, what if another petition comes up seeking to have the new posts treated separately and call for a separate notification?

Meanwhile, the TSPSC is said to be considering some changes to the examination procedure and syllabus.