Government officials are surprised by the unusual response from retired professors apart from retired civil servants for selections into the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC).
As the last date for sending their applications ended on January 18 more than 500 people have applied for the posts that the government plans to fill very soon as the TSPSC is currently headless. The government has called for applications to select the TSPSC members and the Chairman, who recently resigned following the change in the government.
Sources said a large number of professors and retired professors from Osmania University and Kakatiya University have evinced interest given the prestige attached to the Commission. This is the first time that the government has called for applications to fill up the posts that were earlier done by nomination by the government.
The BRS government was in the dock for the selection of TSPSC members in its first term as well as the second term as people with political affiliations were picked up despite their stature not matching the Commission’s prestige. A lot of people who were in the Telangana agitation found a place in TSPSC despite the lack of requisite qualifications expected for such positions.
The government is expected to vet the applications soon and appoint a new Chairman and the members as the recruitment tests have been stalled in the last one year due to repeated leakage of papers while some were postponed due to legal issues. The government might sift through the applications appointing a screening committee or pick up on its own taking into the personal integrity and image of the applicants in society.
The TSPSC presently has just one member, Aruna Kumari, who has not resigned. However, TSPSC Chairman B. Janardhan Reddy and members R. Satyanarayana, B. Linga Reddy, Karam Ravinder Reddy and Sumithra Anand Tanoba submitted their resignations after they were asked by the new government to do so. The Governor recently accepted the resignations.
