Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) has decided to cancel the Group-I notification issued in April 26, 2022 for filling up 503 posts.
A new notification is likely to be issued on Monday or Tuesday with the increased number of 563 posts. The decision to cancel the notification was taken after the Supreme Court allowed the TSPSC to withdraw the Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court’s decision to cancel the preliminary examination.
The TSPSC in a notice on February 19, 2024 informed the candidates that the notification has been cancelled. The cancellation notification comes after the exam was caught in legal issues; once for paper leakage, and the second exam for not following the norms in the conduct of the exam. Both the exams were conducted during the previous regime.
The preliminary examination of Group I was held,for the first time after the formation of Telangana, on October 16 in 2022. However, the paper was leaked leading to a huge uproar and later several people were arrested in the case. The kingpin of the paper leakage was found in the TSPSC itself.
The exam was cancelled and conducted again on June 11, 2023, for a second time. About 2.33 lakh aspirants appeared for the examination for the second time. However, some of them moved the High Court after the exam stating that there were some procedural errors like the biometrics of the candidates were not recorded. The High Court asked the TSPSC to conduct the examination again given the deficiencies while passing strictures against the system.
Then the TSPSC during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime filed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the High Court’s decision to cancel the Group-1 preliminary examination held second time.
Meanwhile, the government changed with the Congress Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, who decided to ‘clean up’ the TSPSC, asked all the members and the Chairman to resign. A new TSPSC was constituted recently with former DGP, M. Mahender Reddy appointed as the Chairman.
The new TSPSC team had recently filed a petition in the Supreme Court to allow it to withdraw the SLP. The decision was seen in line with the Government’s view that it preferred to conduct the Group-I afresh. Meanwhile, the government has decided to add 60 new posts for Group-I services and a G.O. was also issued.
Now, with the cancellation of the Group-I notification of 2022, it is clear that the aspirants have to go through the grind again. The only solace for them is the additional 60 posts to the 503 posts announced in the notification issued in 2022.
