After overcoming many obstacles, the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) has finally completed the selection of candidates for the 167 vacant posts in Group-I services.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, APPSC Chairman D. Gautam Sawang said the selection would be subject to the outcome of the writ petitions filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
Undertaking
“As per the court orders, the selected candidates will submit an undertaking to the APPSC that they will not claim any equities and that they will get themselves impleaded in the said writ petitions if they intend to contest,” he said, adding that the undertaking should be submitted by July 12 without fail at the APPSC office and “only after that process, the result will be communicated to various departments.”
Top three
The top three selected candidates for the posts of Deputy Collector were Rani Susmitha from Pithapuram in East Godavari district, K. Srinivasulu Raju from Kothulaguttapalli in Kadapa district, and V. Sanjana Simha from Hyderabad. Interestingly, seven of the top 10 candidates were women.
The notification for Group-I examinations was issued on December 31 in 2018 to fill 167 posts. “Two posts, reserved for sports quota, have not been filled yet,” he informed.
A total of 9,679 candidates were shortlisted for the Mains examinations, which were postponed on three occasions due to COVID-19 and legal interventions. Finally, the examinations were held from December 14 to 20 in 2020 and, for the first time, tabs, instead of question papers, were used “to enhance the efficiency and also from the security point of view,” he said.
Subsequently, evaluation of the answer sheets was done in the digital mode for the first time and the results were declared on April 20, 2021.
But a few candidates filed writ petitions in the High Court, which ordered manual evaluation in the conventional mode.
The orders were complied with and the results declared on May 26, 2022. “In all, 325 candidates were selected for interview to fill the 165 posts,” he said.
Mr. Sawang said “very high quality candidates,” 20 of them from IITs and IIMs, 15 from BITS, 55% B. Tech and M. Tech candidates, 18 doctors, nine UPSC rankers, and a few IPS officers, appeared for the interview. Öf the 325 selected candidates, 156 were women,” he said.
He said three Boards were constituted to expedite the process with two All-India Service officers in each of the Boards.
“There are 30 posts of Deputy Collector and 28 posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police, among others,” he said, adding, “At this juncture, when new districts and sub-divisions have been formed, there is a need for civil servants of this cadre and rank immediately,” he said.
Notification soon
Mr. Sawang informed that notifications for 110 posts of Group-I category and 182 posts in Group-II category would be issued next month.
Commission members K. Vijay Kumar, K. Padma Raj, G.V. Sudhakar Reddy, S. Salam Babu, A.V. Ramana Reddy, P. Sudheer, N. Sudhakar Reddy and in-charge secretary H. Arun Kumar were present.
