Hyderabad: On October 19, 2024, the unemployed youth in Telangana jammed Hyderabad’s streets in protest. The only leader to address the agitating youth was the Union Minister of State for Home, Bandi Sanjay. The agitating youth were mostly ones who have qualified the preliminary examinations to various Telangana Public Service Commission positions but fear that a new government order could ruin their prospects in the remaining stages of the examination, including the main one.
The immediate reason that propelled youth onto the streets is a result of a bureaucratic mess, triggered by a government order issued by the former TRS government in 2022. The GO recommended that the number of candidates who write the main examination should be “fifty times to the total number of vacancies” in each of the zones that included all the reserved category candidates too.
The Telangana Public Service Commission responded to the GO in February 2024, when the TRS had been ousted by the Congress. The Commission said that the implementation of the GO would require a number of modifications to the examination rules. The Commission under the Congress government went on to amend the rules while interpreting a 2009 Supreme Court judgement which purportedly said that in case of any shortfall among reserved candidates, the remaining vacancies could also be filled by general applicants beyond the permissible 1:50 ratio.
Around three lakh aspirants appeared for the group 1 examination that was held in July 2024 and those who were selected wrote the mains from October 21 to 27, 2024. Some of those who took the exam, most belonging to a reserved category and who believe that they may not have qualified for the mains because of the new GO took to the streets. They claimed that their chances were skewered because of the notification that favours ‘upper’ caste groups.
Also read: As Telangana’s Unemployment Problem Persists, Here’s What the Numbers Say
A misreading gave an opportunity to opposition
The question is, why is the Telangana Public Service Commission acknowledging the Supreme Court ruling of 2009 only now? The original notification for recruitment of Group A services was issued way back in 2022. By then this apex court ruling was already in force. When the SC ruling was not an impediment to the earlier governments for the purpose of calculating the reservations, why was the Congress government concerned about it now? Is there a real legal jinx in the notification or is the Congress leadership misreading the SC ruling on recruitment?
If the GO is implemented strictly, the total number of recruitments belonging to reserved categories will be lesser than those in open categories. This naturally raises questions about the Congress’ commitment to its support base which mainly consists of marginalised sections of the state’s population. Precisely because of this reason, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been at the forefront of the youth agitation with an eye on backward communities and Dalit votes.
What Congress could have done
Ideally, the GO was not warranted at all, despite the Supreme Court ruling. The essence of the ruling is that the portion of reservation should not exceed 50% of the total recruitments. The Supreme Court observed in the very same case: “The reserved category candidates have two options. If they are meritorious enough to compete with the open category candidates, they are recruited in that category. Candidates below them would be considered for appointment in the reserved categories. This is now well settled principle of law as has been laid down by this Court in several decisions.”
Here, the question is whether the Telangana Public Service Commission followed the ruling or not. Had the Commission office released the category-wise data people qualified for the mains following the 1:50 principle, this confusion would not have arisen.
Veeraiah Konduri is a public intellectual and advocate practicing in Hyderabad.
