Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday, September 9, ordered the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) to manually reevaluate the Group 1 exams and declare results in two months, failing which the exam process will be scrapped and fresh exams will be conducted.
In 2024, shortly after coming to power, the Revanth Reddy government cancelled the TGPSC Group 1 exam notification.
Some students approached the Supreme Court, challenging the government’s decision. However, the top court rejected the plea and allowed the exams to proceed, affecting about 30,000 candidates.
Earlier this year, the TGPSC had notified 563 Group 1 vacancies. However, the recruitment was put on hold in April, after the Supreme Court’s order.
In July, petitioners reapproached the Supreme Court, alleging irregularities, lack of transparency, and use of non-Telugu evaluators for Telugu medium exams. However, the apex court struck down their plea, observing that the claims were made with bad intentions.
BRS backs HC order on TGPSC
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) welcomed the Telangana High Court’s order, calling it long-awaited justice to unemployed youth and a “slap on the face of the Congress government.”
In a statement, the former Telangana minister said that despite repeated appeals from students with concrete evidence of malpractice in the Group-1 exams, TGPSC acted stubbornly and pushed ahead carelessly. “The government even filed cases against unemployed youth and subjected them to lathi-charges instead of addressing their concerns. The High Court verdict was truly commendable, as it vindicates job aspirants’ struggle,” he said.
The Sircilla MLA said that the High Court’s intervention had stopped the Congress from treating prestigious Group-1 jobs like “commodities for sale.”
He accused the government of deceiving unemployed youth with hollow promises before and after elections, only to fail in conducting basic exams. He demanded the chief minister’s apology and compliance with the court’s directions to re-evaluate or re-conduct Group-1 Mains within eight months.
“Do not waste time with more appeals. Implement the verdict in full and ensure justice to the youth,” he insisted.
Welcoming the order, former Telangana finance minister T Harish Rao took to social media and said, “In the backdrop of doubts over exam center allocations, issuance of hall tickets, suspicions in exam results, and allegations of malpractices, the verdict given by the High Court today is a slap in the face for the state government.”
He accused CM Revanth of “risking the careers of the aspirants.”
“Due to your negligence in hastily conducting exams and indulging in irregularities, students and the unemployed are suffering,” Rao criticised the chief minister.
“The Congress government, which makes empty promises, lacks even the basic competence to conduct exams properly. Conducting exams and providing government jobs is not about inciting students and the unemployed to engage in petty politics, Revanth Reddy” he said.
Nearly four lakh candidates had appeared for the exam, out of which 30,000 were shortlisted for the mains, and 20,161 candidates were finally selected.
