HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA WRIT PETITION No. 27787 OF 2019

O R D E R:

Petitioners filed this Writ Petition aggrieved by the arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional action of the 2^nd respondent - Telangana State Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as "TGSPSC"), in including, calling for interviews and thereafter appointing certain candidates who had admittedly committed material violations of the mandatory instructions governing the conduct and evaluation of the Group- II Services Examination. The said violations, particularly scratching, tampering, erasing, and use of whiteners in Part-B of the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets, go to the very root of the integrity of the selection process and strike at the foundation of merit and fairness which are the hallmarks of public employment under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

2. The case of petitioners is that the 2^nd respondent issued Notification No. 20/2015 dated 30.12.2015, inviting Applications for recruitment to various posts under Group-II Services in the State of Telangana. Subsequently, by supplementary Notification No. 17/2016, dated 01.09.2016, additional vacancies were notified, bringing the total number of posts to 1032, distributed across 13 distinct categories of services. The Notifications laid down the educational qualifications, age limit and other eligibility criteria to be satisfied by the candidates. Petitioners, being fully qualified and eligible, applied pursuant to the said Notifications, appeared for the written examination conducted by the 2nd respondent and performed meritoriously therein.

2.1. It is stated, the said recruitment process was earlier subjected to judicial scrutiny in a batch of writ petitions led by Writ Petition No. 18834 of 2017 filed by several candidates aggrieved by the inclusion of ineligible candidates in the list published by TGSPSC. It was contended therein that the Commission, in disregard of its own examination instructions, had included candidates who had committed serious irregularities such as wrong bubbling, double bubbling, use of whiteners, erasures, and tampering of OMR sheets. It was further contended that such actions not only violated the express terms of the Notification but also destroyed the sanctity and secrecy of the examination, thereby vitiating the fairness of the process.

2.2. It is further stated, in Writ Petition No. 18834 of 2017, after a detailed and comprehensive examination of the entire recruitment process, the nature of irregularities alleged, and the principles governing public recruitment, this Court delivered a reasoned and authoritative judgment, categorically holding that while the recruitment process as a whole could not be annulled, candidates who had committed violations such as tampering, erasures, and use of whiteners in Part-B of their OMR sheets were mandatorily to be excluded from further participation in the process. The operative portion of the said order is extracted hereunder for ready reference:

"100. CONCLUSIONS:

I. There is no infirmity in the selection process to conduct recruitment to Group II service pursuant to recruitment notification No. 20 of 2015 dated 30.12.2015, per se to hold that selection process is vitiated. Selection process cannot be held as vitiated merely because the OMR sheets of few candidates who have committed errors such as, wrong bubbling, no bubbling or double bubbling of the information relating to Roll number, question paper booklet number, used Whiteners/ used Erasers were evaluated. Such candidates are identifiable and can be separated. The candidates who have committed such mistakes can be excluded and rest of the selection process can be continued.

2. The candidates who have committed errors in bubbling, such as wrong bubbling, no bubbling or double bubbling of the information relating to Roll number, question paper booklet mumber, centre code etc used whiteners/ used Erasers, shall be excluded from consideration