Hyderabad: The Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh governments are set for another face off, this time over recruitments.
The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission is looking to conduct Group-I exams for about 9,000 candidates, from both states, after the Supreme Court directed it to hold fresh Group-I exams.
However, the Telangana government and the TS Public Service Commission are dead against this as it is tantamount to encroaching on their territory.
The TS government is likely to approach the court with regard to its earlier order directing the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission to conduct re-exam for all students in light of the bifurcation of the state, and subsequent formation of TSPSC.
APPSC Group-I exams, held in 2011, were cancelled by the apex court after candidates approached the court pleading that they couldn’t qualify in the exam because of errors in the prelims question papers.
APPSC had said that it would conduct a re-exam for 209 selected candidates, but the apex court had ordered for a re-exam for all the 9,000 aspirants who had originally appeared for the exam.
After an APPSC curative petition was struck down by the Supreme Court in this case, it is learnt that the APPSC has written to TS chief secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma that it intends to hold the re-exam for all the 9,000 students, many of whom are from Telangana.
But there is also a dispute about the details of those students who had appeared for the exam in 2011. The TS government is asking the APPSC to share the details of the students so the list can be split on the basis of nativity.
TSPSC sources said discussions were held on the issue and the Telangana government is likely to implead itself in the case in the Supreme Court and seek a direction for conduct of separate exams for students from each state.
“Telangana doesn’t fall under APPSC jurisdiction now. Even if the TSPSC was not constituted, the UPSC should have conducted the exams here. APPSC is making attempts to conduct the exams for both states, but that is not acceptable,” TSPSC sources said. APPSC couldn’t be reached for comment.
