Telangana Governor yet to decide on TSPSC chairman's resignation

Hyderabad, Dec 12 (IANS) Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) Chairman B. Janardhan Reddy has submitted his resignation, but Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has not yet accepted the same.

Raj Bhavan has denied reports that the Governor has accepted the resignation.

Tamilisai Soundararajan is currently in Puducherry, where she is holding the charge of Lieutenant Governor. Raj Bhavan officials have forwarded the resignation of Janardhan Reddy and the same is still under her consideration.

Minutes after his meeting with Chief Minister A.Revanth Reddy on Monday evening, Janardhan Reddy had reached Raj Bhavan and submitted his resignation.

Janardhan Reddy, a former IAS officer, met the Chief Minister at the Secretariat. The Chief Minister is reported to have expressed severe anger over the functioning of TSPSC during Janardhan Reddy's tenure which was marred by the leakage of question papers and cancellation of exams.

TSPSC question papers relating to Assistant Engineer (AE), Group-I Preliminary and DAO exams were leaked in March this year. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested about 100 accused, including some employees of TSPSC, in the case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) too investigated the case.

The TSPSC paper leak case had become a major issue with the opposition parties targeting then BRS government over its failure to conduct the exams in a foolproof manner leading to paper leaks and postponement and cancellations of Group-1 Preliminary examination and other tests.

Following the paper leak, the TSPSC had cancelled Group-1 Preliminary examination, which was conducted in October 2022. More 2.87 lakh candidates had appeared for the exam.

Though the re-examination was conducted in June 2023, some candidates approached the High Court raising doubts over the conduct of the examination including not taking the biometric tests. The High Court cancelled the exam again and pulled up TSPSC for failing to conduct the exams in a proper manner.

The repeated cancellation and postponement of exams had evoked strong protest from the unemployed youth, who demanded scrapping of TSPSC Board.

This is believed to be one of the factors that worked against the BRS in the recent Assembly elections.

The previous BRS government had appointed Janardhan Reddy as TSPSC chairman on May 19, 2021.

A 1996-batch IAS officer, Janardhan Reddy held several key positions in the government including as secretary, higher education, and the commissioner of GHMC and the HMDA. He took voluntary retirement a few months before his superannuation to take up the job of TSPSC chairman.

The previous government had also appointed seven members in TSPSC along with the chairman. The members are also likely to put in their papers.

The Congress party, during the election campaign, had promised to revamp the TSPSC and fill the vacancies in government departments by conducting the exams and completing the entire process in a transparent manner.

The new government is likely to appoint the new board as a first step towards fulfilling its promise.