Tense atmosphere prevailed at the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) office as the aspirants of the Group-II recruitment examination staged a dharna demanding that the exam be postponed by three months at least.
Heavy police presence did not deter the aspirants, and despite police warning that they would be arrested, the candidates blocked the road and sat in front of the TSPSC office. A delegation of aspirants also met TSPSC officials to submit a memorandum. The candidates wanted immediate decision on the postponement.
Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) president M. Kodandaram, Congress leaders Addanki Dayakar, Riyaz and NSUI president Venkat Balmoor participated in the protest extending their support to the demands of the candidates.
Their contention was lack of time and the disturbances leading to leakage of Group-I examinations and other recruitment tests. At some point, candidates lost confidence in the TSPSC and the series of arrests made in paper leakages disturbed the preparation atmosphere. Moreover, they also claimed that the preparation material was not available in the market, particularly some Government information on which questions were being asked in the recruitment exams.
Candidates also claimed that exams for the Junior Lecturer and Degree Lecturer posts of Gurukulams also clashed with the preparation and the syllabus was vastly different. The exams are scheduled to be held on August 29 and 30 with 5,51,943 candidates applying.
TSPSC dilemma
The TSPSC officials are in a dilemma over the demand and their contention is that if Group II is delayed now it will be delayed for a long time due to the Assembly and Parliament elections in the next few months. They are bound to face issues related to obtaining exam centres and also engaging the officials for conducting the test as they would be busy with the election processes. The exam dates are finalised after taking into account several factors.
A senior official of the TSPSC argued that there was a silent majority that wanted the exam to be conducted as per schedule as they had been preparing for the last few years. Candidates who were serious about Groups examinations start their preparations quite early. So the argument of lack of time was not a serious concern. Moreover, the exam dates were announced in February itself and the notification was given in December last.
Interestingly, candidates who had applied for Group-II exams are in the age group of 21 to 54 years as those in the late 40s and 50s fall into special categories. So the preparation also varied and that cannot be an excuse for postponing the exams. A senior official felt that if the Group-II exams were postponed now, candidates would have to wait for another two years as there was a likelihood of people approaching the courts over the delay and other administrative issues cropping up.
