[ Nellie N Manpoong ]
ITANAGAR, Jun 3: Three years after the first prelims of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Competitive Examination (APPSCCE), the Supreme Court’s verdict has gone in favour of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) after it dismissed the special leave petition of the aggrieved candidates on Tuesday.
Taking note of the special leave petition filed by different sets of aggrieved candidates contesting the Gauhati High Court divisional bench’s 6 March, 2020 directive to complete the entire process of the APPSCCE, the Supreme Court said that it found “no ground to interfere with the impugned order(s) passed by the high court.”
These candidates include those who appeared for the commerce paper, 221 various other subject candidates, as well as those who had cleared the prelims but did not appear for the mains.
Even as several candidates refrained from making a remark on the verdict, one said, “I don’t understand what kind of judgement they gave and on what ground. I am totally broken from the inside. I never expected such a verdict, that too in such a short span of time.”
A candidate who has appeared for the viva voce currently underway said, “The Supreme Court is the guardian of the constitution and I would have accepted the verdict even if it had sided with the aggrieved candidates. But I had my fingers crossed since this was not a case of corruption, but about the need to get the opinion of subject experts.”
The APPSC is currently conducting the viva voce from 2 to 6 June here at its office for 312 qualified candidates against the 104 posts.
The original advertisement published on 9 May, 2017, had 57 posts, which rose to over a 100 over time.
The first preliminary of the APPSCCE was held on 26 November, 2017.
The second preliminary was held on 29 July, 2018 and 1339 aspirants had cleared the examination. Out of these, 1336 had applied for the mains.
The mains were held from 10 to 20 November, 2018, amid protests by candidates who had passed the prelims. Reportedly, only 645 aspirants had attended the exams in all the subjects.
The APPSC had also filed a review petition in the Gauhati high court, challenging the order passed by the court’s single-bench judge on 16 September, 2019, directing the commission to re-conduct the prelims of the APPSCCE within eight weeks.
After months of court battles, the APPSC on 6 March, 2020 declared the results of the mains exam held in 20 November, 2018 after the Gauhati high court’s divisional bench directed completing the examination process within four weeks.
On 11 February this year, the APPSC issued a new notification for the APPSCCE for recruitment against 79 vacancies.
