Lawyers' panel to scan Group-II OMR sheets

HYDERABAD: Taking into account widespread allegations about malpractices in the way the

Telangana State Public Service Commission

(TSPSC) has conducted its Group II examinations, the

Hyderabad High Court

on Wednesday appointed a committee of 3 senior advocates to take a deeper look at the OMR sheets of the top 5,000 candidates.

Justice P Naveen Rao, who heard two batches of petitions filed by V

Ramachandra Reddy

and 14 others and P Charan Das Goswami and 20 others, felt it appropriate to examine the contentions raised by the petitioners and appointed senior advocates P Sri Raghu Ram, R Raghunandan Rao and S Niranjan Reddy to do the job by March 19. These three senior advocates will peruse answer scripts of the top candidates and ascertain whether white fluid was used by anyone to alter the results or acted in a manner that violates the code of secrecy in respect of the identity of the candidates. Usage of whiteners while filling the OMR sheets, double bubbling etc are some of the violations cited by the petitioners.

Their counsel of petitioners B Rachna Reddy charged the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) with ignoring such gross violations and allowing offenders to succeed in the examinations.

The Telangana State Public Service Commission had conducted written examination for 1,032 Group –II posts in 2015-16. According to advocate general D Prakash Reddy, the authorities had shortlisted 3,096 candidates on the basis of written examination results. This was in tune with the ratio of 1:3 as mentioned in the notification. There were allegations that some candidates had used white fluid to alter the OMR sheets, while some candidates wrote their names on answer scripts and revealed their identity contrary to the rules. Even such scripts were not rejected by the authorities, which is a gross violation, the advocates arguing the case of the petitioners said. They have done it with the express intention of manipulating the results, they said.

The TSPSC accommodated all such irregular answer sheets contrary to its own guidelines, the advocates said raising doubts about the genuinity of the process. All these cases were placed before Justice Naveen Rao. The AG said it is in the interest of everyone that the selection process be transparent. He expressed willingness for inspection of the OMR answer sheets. The judge then appointed the committee comprising of senior advocates. These three senior advocates have been requested to peruse these answer sheets and give report on the veracity of allegations of white fluid being used to alter the OMR sheets, etc., The case will be listed again on March 19 and the committee is expected to submit its report by then.