In a significant reform, the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) has altered the selection process for Group I (state civil services) by removing the minimum qualifying mark for the preliminary or prelims test held on Sunday, October 16. TSPSC chairman B Janardhan Reddy said that the selection ratio from the ensuing mains exam would be 1:50, The Hindu reported. This means that for each post available, 50 candidates would be selected from the prelims for the mains.
The TSPSC chairman reportedly said that earlier, with the minimum cut-off mark in place, a few reserved posts were left vacant. With the minimum qualifying mark now removed, he said that candidates from all categories will get a chance to appear for the mains exam if they are among the top 50 scoring candidates for each post, regardless of whether their score meets the cut-off.
There are around 503 vacancies under Group I services in Telangana, for which 2,86,051 candidates appeared for the prelims exam held on Sunday, Times of India reported. The TSPSC, a government recruitment agency, had notified around 503 posts with category wise-reservations as per the new zonal system. The commission notified that the candidates can take exams (prelims and mains) in Urdu, Telugu and English. The vacancies notified include posts like Deputy Collector and Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO).
This was the first time the Group I exam was held in Telangana since its formation. While 3.8 lakh candidates had reportedly registered for it, only around 75% of them (2.86 lakh) appeared for the exam. The prelims exam was held at 1,019 centres across the 33 districts of Telangana.