Two GOs and a competitive exam

Candidates wait outside a Group-I examination centre in Hyderabad on October 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Group-I exam in Telangana is again in the news for the wrong reasons. It has been 13 years since a Group-I officer was appointed in Telangana, including in the combined State of Andhra Pradesh.

The previous BRS government failed to conduct the exam in the first eight years of its tenure. It issued a notification only at the tail end of its second term, in April 2022 (Government Order or GO 55). However, the exam was cancelled twice: once because the question paper was leaked and sold to several candidates; and then because it did not follow due procedure.

The Congress government assumed power in December 2023. It issued a new notification, adding 60 posts to the 503 posts announced for the exam earlier in 2022. It amended GO 55 and paved the way for GO 29.

This GO is being opposed by a section of aspirants, who argue that the rule of reservation is being violated in the selection of candidates for the Mains. After the schedule for the Mains was announced, some aspirants took to the streets demanding the withdrawal of GO 29. Some of them moved the High Court to stall the exam on various grounds, but the Court dismissed their arguments. Officials argue that many of the protesting candidates have not qualified for the Mains.

The protesters want the selection for Mains to be picked in 1:50 (merit versus quota) ratio in every reserved category so that they have additional opportunities in the merit or open category. GO 55 adopted this method.

Officials argue that there was a possibility that GO 55 would be challenged as Supreme Court judgments clearly say that reservations cannot be implemented twice for the same notification. So, picking up candidates from each category at the prelims level would have violated this principle as the final selection of candidates for jobs would be based on the rule of reservation.

To overcome this problem, the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) made amendments to GO 55 and issued GO 29. As per this, candidates for the notified posts would be picked from the merit list irrespective of their reserved category in the ratio of 1:50. Reserved candidates would be picked from the merit list ensuring representation for each category as per the Constitution. If there is a shortage of candidates in any particular category, the TGPSC would go back to the merit list, search for reserved category candidates, and add them to their respective categories to ensure that the 1:50 ratio is maintained in each.

While some aspirants oppose this method, the TGPSC argues that this exercise would ensure that only meritorious candidates from each category are picked. This would also provide an opportunity for these candidates to compete in the open category.

The TGPSC argues that if GO 55 was implemented, those getting selected as per the reserved category would be able to compete only in the reserved category posts. As per the Supreme Court judgments, reservation benefits can be used only once in that particular notification. Since the Mains selection is based on the overall merit pool as per GO 29, candidates would be eligible to compete in the open category and also the reserved category posts.

The officials argue that by considering the Prelims exam as just a screening test, they are avoiding using reservation benefit even as they ensure that the 1:50 ratio of candidates is maintained for every reserved category.

The point on which both the groups have diverse views is of competition in the merit list. While aspirants say GO 55 ensures that candidates can compete both in the open category and reserved category, the Commission disputes this. It argues that those gaining eligibility in the reserved category would have to be confined to the same category. GO 29, on the other hand, ensures they get the opportunity to compete in both categories.

The Opposition has given the agitators help to challenge GO 29 in the Supreme Court. BRS leaders K.T. Rama Rao and Harish Rao and BJP Union Ministers G. Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay have become the voice of the group of aspirants. The Congress has fielded its PCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud, a Backward Classes leader, to defend its argument. It claims that the BRS is determined to discredit the exam so that the Congress government does not get credit. The Mains exams began even as the Supreme Court refused to intervene on the same day.