Group-II exam: Take a call on re-scheduling exam by August 14, HC tells TSPSC

Hyderabad: On Friday, The Telangana High Court asked the TSPSC to inform the court of its stand on rescheduling the Group-II examination to any other date, other than August 29 and 30.

Giridhar Rao, senior counsel appearing for the petitioners, informed the court that lakhs of students across the state of Telangana are eagerly waiting to appear for the Group-II examination.

He said that though the TSPSC is holding this much sought-after examination during August, there are nine other competitive examinations, including the Central Government notifications, which are slated to be held before and after the Group-II examination.

He said if breathing time is given to the Group-II aspirants, who are more than 5.5 lakhs across the state, then it will be a respite to the students as they will get sufficient time to prepare well for the examination.

This is for the first time in a decade the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) has issued a notification for recruitment. “But now in a month, it wants to hold various competitive examinations, which violates Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” Giridhar Rao said.

Refuting the contentions of the senior counsel, Balkishan, the standing counsel for the TSPSC, informed the court that the schedule for holding the Group-II examination was not released in the eleventh hour, but in February 2023.

He said that apart from the 5.5 lakh students, another 8 lakh students in 1,534 examination centres in all 33 districts across the state will be appearing for the exam for which all arrangements have already been made. “The state has even declared a holiday on August 29 and 30,” he said.

He also said that only 60,000 candidates will be appearing for the Gurukul Teacher Exam, which will also be conducted in August.

After hearing the contentions of the counsels, Justice P Madhavi Devi said the TSPSC is under the obligation to give an opportunity to the candidates to give their best in the examination. It directed the TSPSC to declare its plans to re-schedule the Group-II examination by August 14 (Monday).