HC dismisses appeals clearing final hurdle for Group-I Main exams

The legal hurdle to conduct Group-I main examinations from October 21 was cleared with the Telangana High Court dismissing two petitions. File
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The legal hurdle to conduct Group-I main examinations from October 21 was cleared on Friday (October 18, 2024) with the Telangana High Court dismissing two petitions appealing against the order of a single judge who declined to cancel Group-I test.

A Bench of Justices Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Laxmi Narayana Alishetty, pronouncing its verdict, noted that the future of nearly 32,000 candidates appearing for the Main exams cannot be put at stake for the sake of six petitioners.

Also Read: Job aspirants protest at Ashok Nagar demanding postponement of Group-I mains

A preliminary test to select candidates for Group-I cadre officers was conducted by the TGPSC in 2023 having issued a notification for the same the previous year. The exam was cancelled following allegations of leakage of the question paper of the preliminary examination. The test was conducted again this year afresh by adding additional number of posts to be filled up.

Two writ petitions were filed seeking cancellation of the preliminary test on different grounds, including mistakes in answers to some questions and enhanced reservations for scheduled tribe candidates. A single Judge dismissed the two writ petitions following which two appeals were filed.

Dismissing the appeals, the Division Bench observed that the Group-I main exams were just two days away and more than 90% of the candidates had downloaded hall tickets for the same. “Postponing the exams at this stage would disable the administration convening the test and this would cause a lot of prejudice to several thousands of candidates,” the Bench said. It stated that two of the six petitioners, who filed the appeals, were already selected for the Main test.

Hence, “stalling the examination process for the sake of some petitioners is not correct,” the Bench said. Recalling earlier cancellation of the preliminary test, the Bench noted that first time it was cancelled due to leakage of the question paper. Second time, the preliminary test was cancelled after some candidates moved the High Court citing lacunae like examiners not adhering to the system of biometrics and other grounds.

If this time the main exams were stalled, several unemployed youngsters would be put to irreparable loss and hardship, the Bench said. The Bench observed that the single Judge, who dismissed two pleas seeking cancellation of the preliminary test, had ‘rightly not interfered with the case’.

Referring to the petitioners’ challenging the preliminary test notification issued newly on February 19, the Bench said they could not have rated objections over the preliminary test soon after finding any lacunae but not after the names of candidates eligible for appearing for the main examination were declared.

The Bench also referred to the six questions in the preliminary test over which the petitioners raised objections. The Bench clarified that the final key of the preliminary test was published only after the Expert Committee was constituted. The expert committee gave its report. The courts cannot go into the nitty gritty of the wrong questions as its was the duty of the expert body to examine such issues.

Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili said the February 2 Group-I notification clearly gave the schedule of the process to be followed. Once the schedule of the selection process was set out and notified, the question of postponement of the test would not arise, the Bench observed. The Bench did not agree with the objections of the petitioners that the TGPSC had received applications for the selection even two days after the deadline. The Bench said the TGPSC had accepted the applications due to a technical glitch that deprived some candidates of the opportunity to submit the applications on time.