Telangana PSC Group-1 Exam 2025 : Supreme Court Rejects Plea For Fresh Test & Re-Evaluation Of Answer Sheets
The Supreme Court recently refused to interfere with the suspension of a Telangana High Court order which directed re-evaluation of answer sheets of Group-I mains examination conducted by the Public Service Commission or conduct of a fresh exam as an alternative.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was dealing with the challenge to the order of a Division Bench of the High...
The Supreme Court recently refused to interfere with the suspension of a Telangana High Court order which directed re-evaluation of answer sheets of Group-I mains examination conducted by the Public Service Commission or conduct of a fresh exam as an alternative.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was dealing with the challenge to the order of a Division Bench of the High Court, which suspended the order for re-evaluation/fresh exam passed by a Single Bench.
The Supreme Court was not inclined to entertain the petitions, considering that the main matter was coming up for final hearing before the High Court. However, it clarified,
"(i) The appointments made meanwhile, as rightly directed by the Division Bench of the High Court, shall be subject to the outcome of the pending proceedings. No equitable right shall accrue in favour of the appointees.
(ii) Both sides agree to extend full cooperation to the Division Bench of the High Court for early disposal of the intra-Court Appeals."
The order further requested the High Court to prioritize the matter and decide it at the earliest.
The issue was related to the Final Marks List dated 10.03.2025 and General Ranking List dated 30.03.2025 for Group-I examination conducted by the Public Service Commission under advertisement dated 19.02.2024.
To recap, the Single Bench, noting mass irregularities, bias, and non-transparency, set aside the final marks list and general ranking list of the exam. Further, it directed that either the answer scripts be re-evaluated with appropriate moderation or a fresh mains exam be conducted.
In appeal by selected candidates and the Telangana PSC, the Division Bench observed that the issues brought up before the single bench included issuance of two hall tickets, additional correction centres, unclean washrooms, etc, none of which violated any law or rule.
The successful students before the Single Bench contended that the Commission released multiple notifications, which amounted to changing the rules of the game as it was being played, which was deliberately done, so as to make some well-fitted as compared to the others. It was further submitted that the answer sheets were not corrected properly, or not corrected at all. Although the exam was conducted in different vernacular languages, there was only 1 answer key being used as a reference and this put Telugu medium students at a disadvantage.
On the other hand, the State argued that every part of the correction was part of the public domain. It was submitted that an answer key was provided and language experts were called to correct answer scripts in vernacular languages. It was averred that since the exam was the first Group-1 exam conducted since the formation of the State, the Commission took utmost care to ensure that no infirmity was caused.
Ultimately, the Division Bench concluded that the impugned order was based on inferences and presumptions, and suspended the same.
Case Title: CHINTHALAPATI UPENDER AND ANR. Versus TELANGANA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND ORS., SLP(C) No. 27931/2025 (and connected case)