Point of Law : It is well established law that scope of interference in an appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent Act against Interlocutory order, where rights of parties are not substantially determined finally, is very limited.

JUDGMENT :

C. Praveen Kumar, J.

Assailing the Common Order dated 14.06.2022, passed in I.A.Nos.1 of 2022 in W.P.No.15844 of 2022 and batch i.e. W.P.Nos.15750, 15701, 15758, 15745, 15765, 15753, 15806, 15757 and 3079 of 2022, the present Writ Appeals are filed. It appears that some of the Writ Petitioners have not preferred any Writ Appeal.

2. The facts, which lead to filing of the Writ Appeals, are as under:-

(a) On 31.12.2018, Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission/2nd respondent [for short, ‘Commission’] issued notification no.27/2018, dated 31.12.2018 for filling of vacancies in Group-I Services which include 44 carry forward vacancies and 125 fresh vacancies. Accordingly, a preliminary examination [objective type] and the main examination [written] were conducted. The said main examination was said to have been conducted in digital form, meaning that, the answer sheets were scanned and sent to the evaluators, who evaluated the same. The results of the digital examination were announced on 28.04.2021, wherein, about 326 candidates were shown to have been qualified for the interviews. It is said that the names of the appellants were shown as provisionally qualified for interviews. Call Letters were sent to attend the interviews as per the schedule fixed by the Commission. At that stage, some of the candidates, other than the appellants, questioned the manner of evaluation of the main examination vide W.P.Nos.11000 of 2021 and batch. After hearing all the concerned, a learned Single Judge of this Court by a Common Order dated 01.10.2021, directed the Commission to evaluate the mains examination papers manually i.e. in conventional mode within three (3) months by setting aside the digital evaluation conducted earlier. Learned Single Judge also directed that successful candidates should be called for oral interviews and the process shall be completed as early as possible.

(b) Pursuant thereto, the Commission started manual evaluation and results were announced on 26.05.2022 by short listing 325 candidates as qualified, who are now attending the interview. It is said that the names of the appellants did not figure in the said provisional select list of qualified candidates for the interviews. This result of the Commission, is sought to be challenged in these Writ Appeals.

3. Heard learned Senior Counsel Sri Jandyala Ravi Shankar, Sri B. Adinarayana Rao, for the appellants and Sri Bhaskar Poluri and Sri Kambhampati Ramesh Babu, learned counsel for the appellants in W.A.Nos.538, 532, 541 and 540 of 2022 respectively and Sri S.S. Prasad, learned Senior Counsel for the respondents/Commission in all the Writ Appeals.

4. The main argument of Sri Jandyala Ravi Shankar, learned Senior Counsel for some of the appellants, is that there were two manual evaluations i.e. one conducted sometime between December, 2021 and January, 2022 and the second in the month of April to May, 2022. According to him, a press statement was issued by the Secretary of the Commission on 01.01.2022 stating that the results would be published in the month of February, 2022, which show that manual evaluation was also done in the month of December, 2021 and January, 2022. Apart from that substantial amount to a tune of Rs.2,20,00,000/- was paid to various persons [as per social media postings] during the said period. It is further submitted that WhatsApp messages and social media postings show appointment of some persons to process the examination sheets. According to him, these two grounds are sufficient to infer that there was evaluation of papers in December, 2021 and January, 2022. He also took us through the contents of his affidavit filed in support of Writ Petition to show that a sum of Rs.2,50,000/- was paid to APPSC staff through Cheque dated 21.02.2022 and a further sum of Rs.8,00,000/- was also paid on 21.02.2022 to M/s.Data Tech Company for scanning the marks sheets. Learned Senior Counsel also tried to contend that from 25.02.2022 to 27.02.2022, results wer