1 week Ago By Express News Service
HYDERABAD: Amid ongoing court cases, the Group-I mains examination will be conducted from Monday till October 27 for 563 posts in various government departments. A total of 31,383 candidates have qualified for the mains. This is the first time the much-awaited Group-I exams are being held in Telangana since its formation.
The last time the exams were conducted was in 2011 in undivided Andhra Pradesh. The Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) is conducting the examination at 46 centres under tight security across three districts: Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri. For the first time, biometric attendance is being introduced for the candidates.
During the BRS regime, the Group-I exams were announced but were plagued by paper leaks and controversies, leading to the cancellation of the prelims in 2022 and 2023. This time, the candidates have been protesting against GO 29, demanding rescheduling of the examinations, alleging that SC, ST and BC students would suffer under its reservation provisions. A case has been filed in the Supreme Court regarding GO 29, and it is expected to be heard on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Telangana High Court, which declined to postpone the Group-I mains, stated that the examination results would be subject to its final verdict scheduled to be pronounced on November 20. Recently, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, asserting that the government is fully prepared to conduct the exams from Monday, had accused opposition leaders of provoking aspirants to stage protests. The chief minister explained that when the new notification for Group-I was issued in February, the government also issued GO 29, cancelling the previous GO 55.
Under GO 29, the government decided on a 1:50 ratio for the mains exam. “After the preliminary exam process was completed as per the GO 29, some political leaders are now creating a controversy,” Revanth alleged. He emphasised that no changes to the rules should be made during the prelims or mains examination.
The chief minister argued that implementing the GO 55 would have been unjust to SC, ST and BC candidates. “The high court’s refusal to stay the examinations shows that the government’s stance is correct,” Revanth had said, urging the candidates to end their protests. TPCC president Bomma Mahesh Kumar Goud accused BJP and BRS leaders of misleading the candidates.
He said that no candidate would suffer injustice and appealed to them to appear for the exams. Meanwhile, city police detained several aspirants who gathered at Ashok Nagar on Sunday to voice their concerns. They assembled near La Excellence IAS Academy to speak to the media about their situation.
However, the police personnel deployed in the area took them into preventive custody and shifted them to various police stations. Furthermore, the TGPSC has installed cameras in all examination centres. Additionally, to ensure the integrity of the process, vehicles transporting question papers will be equipped with GPS tracking devices.
The TGPSC head office will monitor the GPS to track the movement of these vehicles. The commission declared that the city police will provide strict security for the exam. One SI, five constables and one woman constable will be deployed at each exam centre.
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