The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the State government to furnish the entire records pertaining to the appointment of six members to Telangana State Public Service Commission by November 14.
A bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy passed this interim direction while hearing a PIL petition filed by a retired professor A. Vinayak Reddy challenging the appointment of six members to the TSPSC. The petitioner contended that the appointment of members Ramavath Dhan Singh, Badi Linga Reddy, Sumithra Anand Tanoba, Dr. Aravilli Chandrasekhar Rao, R. Satyanarayana and Karam Ravinder Reddy was not in consonance with rules.
When the plea came up for hearing on Thursday, the Chief Justice raised queries about the appointment of the members. The bench headed by the CJ sought to now how the government arrived at the conclusion that the said members were eligible for appointment to the crucial posts.
The CJ wanted to know how the members knew about the vacancy position of the members in the recruitment body which conducts tests and interviews to select candidates for government jobs. The CJ asked Advocate General B.S. Prasad appearing for the government if the State issued any notification or publication inviting applications for appointment of TSPSC members.
How the members were deemed to be experts in their respective fields for appointment as members of the Commission, the bench sought to know. The AG said the members were appointed in compliance with the regulations of 32A and 32B of TSPSC.
However, the bench asked the AG as to why the counter affidavit filed by the government did not comprise all details about the basis and manner of appointment of the members. Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel S. Satyam Reddy submitted to the bench instead of appointing persons who achieved eminence in their respective fields, the government chose to select members of its choice for the TSPSC.
He told the bench that while one of the members worked as a district-level reporter, another was an Ayurvedic doctor who never worked in a government hospital. How can they hold position of TSPSC members who select candidates for crucial posts at different levels in the government, he said.