Hyderabad: In a setback to the Telangana Public Service Commission (TSPSC), a division bench of the Telangana High Court has dismissed a writ appeal filed by the state government’s official recruiter seeking a direction to set aside a single judge’s order cancelling the Preliminary Examination conducted for the Group-1 posts.
While dismissing the appeal, the division bench, comprising Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti, said the SPSC ought to have been more careful and cautious in conducting the Group.1 Preliminary Examination as this was the second time that it was holding this examination.
The government recruiter filed an appeal against an order passed by Justice P. Madhavi Devi on September 23, cancelling the Group-1 Preliminary Examination held on June 11, 2023.
The division bench found fault with TSPSC for not issuing an addendum saying that they will be dispensing with the biometric screening of candidates, as it had done in the case of Group.2 examination and said that the examination ought to have been conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
The High Court also questioned TSPSC as to when it could take biometric attendance of the 2,83,346 candidates, who appeared for the Group.1 Preliminary exam on October 16, 2022, which was cancelled due to a question paper leak, why it could not put in place the same biometric system when the examination was conducted on June 11, 2023 for the second time.
As 503 posts are notified in the Group.1 exam, even if 10 to 15 persons impersonate, they will be the beneficiaries, and the whole object of conducting the examination will be defeated and the candidates, who strived hard will be put to irreparable loss, as per the Supreme Court Judgment in State of Tamil Nadu Vs., G. Hemalatha, which held that the instructions are binding on the Commission as well as the candidates, therefore, the TSPSC could not have dispensed with the biometric Attendance in the exam held on 11-6-2023.
The High Court also found fault with the TSPSC for furnishing false information on the number of candidates who appeared for the examination in its two web notes. “There was an increase of 258 candidates in the second web note dated June 28, 2023, issued by TSPSC, when compared to its first web note, which cast doubts about the credibility of the TSPSC in holding the exam.”
The court asked TSPSC as to how did the number of candidates increase. As per the nominal rolls furnished by TSPSC, two invigilators need to sign on the nominal roll, whereas contrary to its own instructions, only one Invigilator signed on the nominal roll and the TSPSC has not given any explanation on this aspect.
TSPSC has not prescribed any procedure to mark the attendance of the candidates and when allegations are levelled, there is a possibility of impersonation, the court said in its order.
