High Court reserves orders in pleas challenging conduct of Gr-1 prelims

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday reserved orders in a batch of petitions seeking cancellation of the Group-1 preliminary examinations held on June 11, as no biometric data comparison was done and the hall ticket number and candidate photographs were not affixed on the OMR sheets.

Justice P. Madhavi Devi has completed hearing the petitioners and the TS Public Service Commission (TSPSC).

The petitioners urged the court to declare the way the examination was conducted as illegal, capricious, unjust and in violation of the Constitution. They further sought a directive for the TSPSC to arrange a fresh examination.

Advocate-General B.S. Prasad, representing the TSPSC, opposed the contentions of the petitioners and said that the commission had taken extensive precautions to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination. Absence of biometric data acquisition should not be the sole basis for cancellation of the exam, he said.

He clarified that candidates were allowed into the examination hall only after thorough verification of their identity cards, such as Aadhaar, PAN, voter ID card, or driving licence, in conjunction with their hall tickets.

One point of contention brought up by the petitioners was regarding the signature of a female candidate which had undergone a change following her marriage, in accordance with tradition. The AG said only three individuals had raised objections on this matter, and it would not be appropriate to inconvenience lakhs of candidates for the sake of these few objections. The AG urged the court to dismiss the writ petitions and permit the results to be announced.