Pending since 2017, HC to take up TNPSC Group-I case on Feb 12
Even as skeletons continue to tumble in the Group-IV exams held by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC), the Madras High Court is all set to take up a plea regarding a TNPSC Group-I scam, which surfaced in 2017, wherein a forensic repot had confirmed that blank answer sheets of TNPSC in possession of a private channel were original.
By : migrator
Update: 2020-01-31 01:43 GMT
Chennai
A division bench, comprising Justice R Subbiah and Justice R Pongiappan, agreed to take up the case after a mention was made by advocate M Purushothaman on Thursday about the plea pending since 2017.
He submitted that during the hearing that transpired, the court had ascertained that besides the forensic report, the police had also confirmed that as many as 64 answer sheets were stolen from TNPSC. The case was listed last for hearing sometime in April 2019. But since then it has not seen the light of the day.
Following this, the Bench agreed to take up the plea for hearing on February 12.
The issue was brought to the notice of the court by S Swapna, a transgender aspiring for Group-I services. She had contended that she came to know about the scam when a private television channel aired a news report alleging large-scale scam in Group-I exams, based on blank answer sheets of TNPSC in their possession.
Following this, a forensic test ordered by the High Court confirmed that the blank answer sheets of TNSPC in possession of the TV channel are original and printed in the same printer.
The High Court at that point of time had suo motu impleaded all the candidates who were selected through the exams.
The written examinations were conducted on July 29, 30 and 31 of 2016 for 68 vacancies. Swapna had managed to clear the preliminary examination and appeared in the written exams unsuccessfully.
Following the expose of the scam in the private channel, she had sought for a copy of answer sheet through an RTI query. But as the TNPSC refused to provide the same, she moved the court. The Madras High Court, during the hearing, had observed that interim reports of investigation into the alleged scam suggests certain allegations of corruption.
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