The High Court on Monday issued a stay order on the conduct of Group I Mains examination and directed the State government to explore the possibilities of conducting examination all over again. The HC Bench headed by Chief Justice J.K. Maheswari and N. Jaya Surya further issued notices to the Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) and the Secretary of General Administration Department to furnish the compliance report within two weeks and postponed the hearing by two weeks.
Passing severe strictures on the State government, the High Court questioned the credibility of the preliminary exam question paper, on which the petitioners have approached the court stating that there were 51 errors in 120 questions.
The APPSC had issued a notification for the Group I services to fill up 169 posts in December 2018 and the preliminary examination was held on May 26, 2019. According to the schedule, the Group I Mains examination was supposed to be held from June 10, but was deferred. Meanwhile, petitioners filed a bunch of petitions in the High Court pleading that the court stay the release of results of preliminary examination as there were several discrepancies, including errors in Telugu translation of question papers, refusal of the APPSC to allow calculators, etc.
Finally, the results were released on November 1, 2019, and the APPSC announced a schedule to hold Mains exam from December 2, 2019 till December 14, 2019 and again the schedule was deferred to February.
Even as the candidates, who have qualified in the Prelims have completed their preparation and were to write Mains, the APPSC announcement to postpone the examination has shocked the aspirants.
“How can we prepare when there is so much uncertainty whether examinations will be held or not?” said a candidate from Guntur, who was qualified for Mains.
Some have cited that the government’s decision to start the coaching for the Mains, as the reason, but the sources in the APPSC, said that it was not true.
Moreover, 80% of 8,351 selected candidates are likely to appear for next UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination to be held on May 31, 2020. There is a lot of difference on how candidates prepare for a Prelims examination which is objective and mains examination which is subjective. So candidates have urged the APPSC to hold Group1 Mains examination as early as possible in the first week of March so that they get at least two months time for preparation of Civil Services Prelims Examination 2020.
Interviews for civil services 2019 examination for Andhra Pradesh candidates are supposed to be held in the last week of March and the first week of April. There may be a few candidates who will be attending UPSC interviews also.
Candidates urge that the APPSC must carefully plan the next schedule so that repeated postponement will not happen again undermining the Commission’s credibility.
