[ Bengia Ajum ]
NAHARLAGUN, 24 Sep: The Gauhati High Court, Itanagar Permanent Bench, has directed the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) to reschedule the mains examination for the Arunachal Engineering Service (AES), which was earlier scheduled for 28 and 29 September. Justice Budi Habung, while hearing a writ petition filed by the aspirants, directed the commission “to re-fix the dates of the written examination after 30 days from today and issue a fresh schedule notification accordingly.”
The petitioners claimed that although the commission had included their names in the revised list of eligible candidates falling under the zone of consideration, they were given only nine days to prepare for the exam. On the other hand, some candidates whose names were declared as qualified in the notification dated 30.07.2025 had nearly 60 days of preparation time.
On 3 September, the Gauhati High Court, while hearing a writ petition filed by a group of candidates aggrieved by the segregation undertaken by the APPSC in declaring the results of the prelims exam for the AES, directed that the petitioners who had been left out of the zone of consideration be allowed to write the AES mains exam. The court also made it clear that the results of the writ petitioners shall not be declared without leave of the court until further orders.
Subsequently, the APPSC declared a second set of results on 18 September, including more names after the court clarified that the commission could include candidates who were not part of the original petition but qualified to be included in the list.
Advocate Ajin Apang, senior counsel and standing counsel for the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission, stated on instructions from the commission that the APPSC had already resolved to extend the schedule of the written examination by an additional 30 days to ensure fairness to all candidates.
Earlier, the petitioners stated that although the advertisement was issued for filling up 166 posts, the select list was prepared by segregating 102 posts for Assistant Engineer (Civil) exclusively for the departments of PWD, Public Health Engineering & Water Supply, Urban Development, and Urban Local Bodies. For the remaining 34 posts of Assistant Engineer (Civil) available under the Hydro Power Development, Rural Works Department, and Water Resources Department, where eligibility criteria included both Civil and Agricultural Engineers, a separate select list was published.
As a result, the petitioners were debarred from applying for the posts of Assistant Engineer (Civil) under the Rural Works Department, Water Resources Department, and Hydro Power Development, as their names were not included in the respective lists.
Following the preliminary result declaration in the last week of July, a section of aspirants raised concerns over alleged overlaps in the selected lists. They claimed that the same set of 362 candidates appeared in both merit lists, one meant exclusively for Civil Engineering posts and the other common to both Civil and Agricultural Engineering streams. According to the aspirants, this overlap led to some candidates being counted twice, thereby disrupting the intended selection ratio. They also questioned the use of preliminary examination marks for segregating candidates during the selection process. Senior advocate Dicky Panging appeared as counsel for the petitioners.
When contacted for a response, the secretary of the APPSC, P.Priytarshny said, “Before the court’s verdict, the Commission decided to postpone the exam dates based on the representations received. We informed the court that the exam would be postponed by one month, and a notification to that effect has been issued by the Commission.”
