Group-1 preliminary exam: Telangana High Court dismisses batch of writ petitions

 A two-judge Bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of writ petitions that sought the restoration of notification No. 4/2022, dated April 26, 2022, and a re-conduct of the Group-1 preliminary examination. The petitioners argued that the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TGPSC) had unlawfully cancelled the earlier notification and issued a new notification (No. 2/2024) on February 19, 2024, which altered the terms of the recruitment process.

While dismissing the petitions, the court provided some relief to the petitioners, granting them the liberty to file separate proceedings regarding the subsequent events that followed the issuance of the new notification. However, the bench clarified that these new issues could not be adjudicated in the present batch of writ petitions. The court noted that there was a significant delay in filing the petitions and remarked that the petitioners had failed to provide an adequate explanation for the delay, which was a key factor in dismissing the case. 

The bench observed that the principles of justice could not be compromised due to delay in approaching the court, particularly in matters of recruitment.

Dr Aditya Sondhi, senior counsel representing the petitioner Sri Palle Srinivas Reddy, had argued that as per an earlier judgment the only viable option left for the TGPSC was to “re-conduct” the Group-1 preliminary examination based on the April 2022 notification. He contended that cancelling the notification and issuing a new one was illegal, as it not only expanded the number of vacancies from 503 to 563 but also altered the selection process mid-course, which he argued was a violation of fairness in the recruitment process.

Further, Sondhi argued that the TSPC had breached the prescribed ratio of 1:50 for vacancies and did not apply the ratio category-wise, which could unfairly advantage some candidates. He also questioned the validity of the new rules introduced through GO Ms No.29, dated February 8, 2024,



suggesting that the introduction of such executive orders had created confusion and could potentially infringe on candidates’ rights. E Madan Mohan, another senior counsel representing a different petitioner, added that the adjustments to the vacancy calculation, which had been made according to the new rules, were contrary to the earlier guidelines and violated the principles established by the Supreme Court in various judgments, including the Indra Sawhney case, which upheld the concept of merit-based and fair reservation.

The government, represented by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TGPSC), opposed the writ petitions, arguing that they were filed too late, and no valid reason had been provided to justify the delay. The bench accepted this reasoning, stating that the petitioners had failed to explain the delay in approaching the court despite being aware of the new notification issued in February 2024. The bench referred to an earlier order where the court had already dismissed similar pleas based on a six-month delay. 

In another key aspect of the judgment, the bench also noted that several petitioners had sought to challenge the extension of the application deadline, which allowed candidates who did not apply within the original time frame to submit their applications until March 14, 2024. The petitioners contended that this extension unfairly expanded the pool of candidates, putting those who had applied within the prescribed time at a disadvantage. However, the court rejected this argument, emphasising that the delay in filing the petitions had rendered these issues irrelevant for adjudication in this round of litigation.

The court ultimately held that, after the dismissal of the previous petitions, there was no ground to “turn the clock back” and restore the previous notification. The bench concluded that the petitions filed in this batch were also to be dismissed, as the delay in filing rendered the merits of the case irrelevant for consideration