The Telangana High Court on Tuesday set aside the results of the Group-I Mains examinations conducted by the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC), citing irregularities in the evaluation process. The ruling comes as a major setback for the recruitment drive to fill 563 key government posts, including deputy collectors, revenue divisional officers, mandal revenue officers, mandal parishad development officers, and deputy superintendents of police.
A bench headed by Justice Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao delivered the judgment while hearing multiple petitions filed by unsuccessful candidates, who alleged glaring lapses in the conduct and evaluation of the Mains examination held between October 21 and 27, 2024.
“The judge struck down the general ranking list and the final list of selected candidates. He directed that TGPSC either conduct a re-evaluation of the answer sheets in line with Supreme Court guidelines or hold a fresh Mains examination, to be completed within eight months,” said senior advocate B. Rachna Reddy, representing the petitioners.
Justice Rao further ruled that failure to complete the process within the stipulated period would automatically result in the cancellation of the Mains examination.
Around 30,000 candidates appeared for the examination, the results of which were declared on March 10, 2025. Petitioners pointed to several anomalies, including:
- Dual hall ticket numbers: Some candidates were issued two hall tickets, creating confusion after clearing prelims.
- Unqualified evaluators: Answer scripts written in Telugu were allegedly assessed by evaluators lacking proper qualifications, resulting in a low pass percentage of 18%, compared to 30% among English medium candidates.
- Lapses in verification and monitoring: Petitioners alleged biometric verification was not properly enforced and raised doubts over claims of centralized CCTV monitoring.
Reacting to the verdict, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and former minister K.T. Rama Rao called the judgment a “lesson for the government.” He accused the administration of ignoring concerns raised by candidates and demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy apologize.
“The verdict must be implemented immediately. Repeated appeals should not become a reason for injustice to the youth,” KTR said in a statement.
The TGPSC had released both the general ranking list and the list of selected candidates in April 2025. While unsuccessful aspirants sought annulment of the results, selected candidates opposed the petitions, arguing that their selection process was already underway. Justice Rao, after hearing both sides on July 7, pronounced the final verdict on Tuesday.
