Misgivings, court cases, short time for preparation add to unrest among Group-I job aspirants in Telangana

Uncertainty looms as Telangana Group-I exam aspirants demand postponement due to preparation concerns and issues with GO. 29

Hours after another protest by aspirants of Group-I mains exam, to be conducted by the Telangana Public Service Commission, an air of uncertainty continues among the job aspirants. On Wednesday (October 16,2024) evening, dozens of students stepped out of the hostel rooms and classrooms of coaching centres in the Ashok Nagar area of Hyderabad demanding postponement of the Group-I exam citing short-time for preparation and misgivings over GO-29 issued in February 2024, that tweaked the reservation policy for hiring officers.

“How can they conduct the exam in a hurry. What’s the hurry? The government can wait till the legal cases are settled. What will happen if there’s an adverse judgment after the hiring process?” asks Shravan, a B. Tech student, preparing for the exam and drawing attention to the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) case. In March 2024, the AP High Court directed the APPSC to conduct a fresh Group 1 exam even after the recruitment agency issued appointment letters and 167 officers started working. 

“Aspirants want the exam to be postponed because there has been a lot of uncertainty affecting preparation. My 10-hour preparation time dropped to 3-4 hours. The aspirants live in a community. If there is a talk about postponement, everyone is affected. A lot of information has been shared on YouTube. This led us to believe that the exams will not be conducted now,” said Vineet who has been preparing for the past five years for the exam.

The Ashok Nagar area is a hub for coaching centres and hostels where aspirants from districts and even residents of the city stay cooped up in rooms and prepare for the exam. The aspirants live and breathe exams and any titbit of information about the exam is amplified including whether they should rely on Telugu Akademi books. 

“If the exam is conducted now, the advantage will be for the UPSC aspirants whose preparation has not been disturbed and another 20% of the student community who did not get distracted,” says another job aspirant. 

“We are not here for postponement. There is a serious issue with G.O.29 which will rearrange the prelims list upside down. Over 14 cases are pending in High Court. Aspirants are not ready to re-write mains exam. We are requesting for rescheduling because of court cases. We already wrote the prelims three times,” one of the aspirants shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“About 22 cases are pending against Group-1 in Telangana High Court, @TGPSCOfficial is going ahead with the Main Exam. Above all, both government and commission are silent on GO 29 which will have far reaching implications. Like in MP, the courts may ask you to conduct exam again for all those who lost the opportunity to write mains. Restore GO 55 and the problem is solved once forever,” shared Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and former bureaucrat R. S. Praveen Kumar listing 22 cases about the conduct of the Group 1 exam.