Full Story: Group 1 Aspirants’ Protest, Demands & Fate

The TGPSC Group—1 recruitment examination is scheduled for Monday (21st October 2024), but the aspirants are staging protests, demanding the exam postponement. The protests also turned aggressive, with police officials indulging in the lathi charge against the unemployed youth. The government faces pressure, with several political leaders involved in the protests. However, there is much more behind the protests by the Group 1 Aspirants, and let us delve deeper into what is happening.

First, the Group 1 exam is the top-tier civil service examination conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission across India. Candidates who clear the exam will be appointed as Deputy Collectors, DSPs, and other important officials in the state government. The exam is currently being held after 13 years, so the aspirants are very eager to apply and have multiple demands. The last time the exam was conducted was in 2011, and the results were declared in 2016.

Now, the controversy surrounds GO 29 Upon assuming the power, the Congress government canceled the 2022 Group 1 notification and issued a fresh one in February this year. The earlier notification stated that the candidates would be selected under GO 55, but the new notification amended it and introduced GO 29.

GO 55 states that the reservation policy allowed candidates from SC/ST/BC categories to compete in both the open and reserved categories based on merit. However, the latest GO 29 amended the reservation, resulting in SC/ST/BC candidates applying for the exam in their reserved categories even if they scored high enough for open category selection. Simply put, under the old notification, the reserved category candidates could compete based on merit in both open and reserved categories. But, in the latest one, it is not the case.

Many candidates feel that GO 29 unfairly alters the reservation norms, depriving many candidates of meeting their opportunities. Many claim that the sudden change would also result in the violation of their fundamental rights.

It is the major concern of the aspirants concerning applying for the examination. However, there are some other concerns, which are stated below.

1. Ten days before the examination, TGSPC declared that the Telugu Academy books are not standard. Many aspirants have relied on the Telugu Academy books all these years for their preparation, and suddenly, the commission declared that the study material could not be used anymore.
2. The alteration of government notifications creates legal uncertainty claims. Many aspirants are unsure of the situation in case the exam is canceled since it has come under a lot of scrutiny. Moreover, the Supreme Court of India will also hear the case on Monday.
3. Violation of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Articles 15 and 16 of the constitution, denying aspirants their rightful reservations. Many students from SC, ST, BC, and EWS categories who qualified under the earlier norms of GO 55 are now being disqualified.
4. The fate of the examination, including the results, is uncertain, given the controversy surrounding it. The aspirants think that the government might delay the issue of results or re-conduct the examination.
5. The aspirants are subjected to extreme trauma as they protested, demanding the cancellation of the exam. The study halls are forcibly shut, and the aspirants are dragged to roads unnecessarily. Many of the aspirants are physically assaulted and even arrested.

Telangana High Court Stand
The Telangana High Court already stated that it reserves the judgment for November 20, 2024. Many aspirants are unsure if the results will be invalid after the court’s verdict comes out as the exam is scheduled to happen tomorrow.

Earlier Judgements:
The Indra Sawhney Judgment (1992): The Supreme Court of India upheld the validity of reservations but also emphasized that the merit should not be undermined.

The R. K. Sabharwal Case (1995): The Supreme Court ruled that once a reserved category candidate is appointed based on merit, they should not be counted against the reserved quota.

As per the earlier verdicts and the available laws, GO 29 could be viewed as infringing on the rights of the candidates from reserved categories.

Questions unanswered
The aspirants made many demands in the current scenario. They even moved a petition to the Supreme Court, which will hear it tomorrow. The aspirants want clear answers to many questions.

1. What if GO 55 is upheld in the final verdict?
2. What happens if the court cancels the examination?
3. Why is there a discrepancy between the hall ticket numbers for the prelims and mains exams?

Amidst all this confusion, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy appealed to the protesting aspirants to focus on the examination. “The government introduced GO 29 to ensure equal opportunities for all. I appeal to the Group 1 aspirants to abandon misconceptions about the recruitment process. 95 percent of the aspirants already downloaded their hall tickets, and I urge the rest to do so and prepare for the examination.”

At the same time, Revanth Reddy also requested the police to avoid lathi charges against unemployed youth.

The bottom line of the story is that the fate of thousands of aspirants is not based on merit at the moment but on the decisions taken by political parties. We have to see what the courts will decide in this matter.