Hyderabad: Facing attack from all quarters over the TSPSC question paper leaks, the Telangana government on Saturday announced a slew of decisions to soften the blow on job aspirants.
These, IT minister K.T. Rama Rao told a press conference, include not levying any additional fee on those who were to take the four cancelled exams, keeping study circles open round-the-clock, making coaching material available for free download and rescheduling the exams for the earliest possible dates.
The decisions on the same were taken in a meeting with Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, with ministers K.T. Rama Rao, Sabitha Indra Reddy, Gangula Kamalakar and V. Srinivas Goud, Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari, TSPSC chairman B. Janardhan Reddy and former chairman Ganta Chakrapani in attendance.
“The Chief Minister was briefed about the discussions,” Rama Rao said, adding that Chandrashekar Rao’s decisions, for the youth of Telangana, send a clear message to them that the government was committed to a transparent recruitment process.
Rama Rao also said that in the next two or three days, study and coaching materials for the four cancelled exams will be made available for free download.
“Those using reading rooms in study circles will also be provided with free food and reading materials. If any additional specific demands come from the job seekers, then individual district administrations have been directed to fulfil them,” Rama Rao said.
Rama Rao said that role of two employees of the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) in the question papers leak should not be seen as an overall failure of the Commission, and that anyone involved in the case will face the strictest possible punishment.
Rama Rao said, “This (paper leak) should not have happened and should have been prevented. But unfortunately, two employees committed the crime and brought a bad name to the entire system. What happened was not a system failure, but the fault of two employees.”
He said: “We too are anguished. Efforts will be made for holding exams at the earliest.”
Rama Rao said that while the re-exam decision was tough on those who already cleared the Group-I prelims, those who join the jobs after taking the re-exam will not have to face the stigma of having done so through question paper leaks.
He said the TSPSC was a role model for other states to follow and the UPSC had also complimented it for its work. After Telangana was formed, around 150 job notifications were issued, with 35,000 recruitments and one exam was conducted, for 10 lakh people, without a hitch. “We introduced computer-based recruitment tests and did away with interviews to eliminate possibilities of job seekers trying to influence the outcomes,” he said.
