Visakhapatnam: The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) plans to cut down the number of candidates screened for filling available vacancies. The commission may adopt a 1:12 or 1:15 selection ratio (inviting 12 or 15 times the number of vacancies) for screening tests in future. At present, the ratio at screening tests for main examinations has been 1:50.
The APPSC will adopt a roster system at the time of screening test itself, which is absent at present. The commission is gearing up for computer-based tests (CBT) for the mains examinations as part of its different notifications.
It is getting equipped with infrastructure and computers to conduct CBT for only 50,000 candidates. With the infrastructure that is available with it at present, there would be a problem if the number of vacancies under any notification were more than 1,000.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, APPSC chairman Prof. P. Uday Bhaskar said that they would release notification for both Group-I and Group-III by December-end.
“If we delay the release till January 2017, it would affect the prospects of some aspirants because the APPSC considers December 31 as the cut-off date for deciding age of the candidates. Considering our logistical and infrastructural limitations, we have been planning to trim down the number of candidates called for the mains exam from 1:50 to some 1:12 or 1:15,” Mr Uday Bhaskar said, adding that the recently released Group-II notification for 982 vacancies had drawn about 2.5 lakh applications by Saturday.
Meanwhile, the APPSC had released the results of screening test for the Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) recruitment. For the 748 vacancies, the commission has has shortlisted about 37,400 candidates at a 1:50 ratio.
“We will introduce an Aadhaar-based biometric registration process at the examination halls. The examination centres will have CCTV cameras. The mains examination would be held on December 29 and 30 across the state for the AEE posts. From now on, we will implement the roster system at the time of screening test itself. We would call candidates of a certain community to the mains exams in the same proportion of posts earmarked for that community,” Uday Bhaskar added.
