The Telangana High Court in Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
Justice Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao of Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the State government, Telangana State Public Service Commission and others in a writ petition seeking a direction to re-evaluate the answer papers of Group-I services’ main examination.
The judge, after hearing contention of the counsel for the petitioner, S. Naresh and 22 others, who appeared for the main examination, directed the respondents to file their counter affidavits within four weeks. The 23 petitioners requested the Bench to instruct the TGPSC to reserve 23 posts to be filled by it as per the notification issued on February 19 of 2024 till adjudication of their petition. They alleged that the process adopted for evaluation of main exam answer scripts was unscientific, irrational and unprofessional.
Citing a press note issued by the TGPSC on this March 13, the petitioners contended that it disclosed list of evaluators of different subjects. However, the list did not reveal in which language the experts were familiar with. According to them, this would negatively impact the candidates who wrote the exams in Telugu language. The answers on topic of Indian Society (P3) should have been evaluated by sociology professors. However, no professors of sociology were roped in to evaluate these topics, they said in the petition.
Out of total 900 marks of the main exam, the paper on Telangana Movement comprised 150 marks. The TGPSC communication states that 40 experts from different parts of the country were assigned the task of evaluating this paper. Persons from outside the State would have little or no familiarity/expertise on this topic. Even this would affect the prospects of candidates who wrote the exam in Telugu, they said in the plea.
They contended that not releasing the Grand Ranking List (common ranking list based on the marks secured in the main exam) of the candidates too clouded the transparency and fairness in the recruitment process. The judge posted the hearing to April 21 for next hearing.
Published – March 24, 2025 09:20 pm IST
