In a setback for the state government, the AP Administrative Tribunal (APAT) on Friday stayed the interviews for Group I services scheduled to be held from January 4.    The tribunal bench comprising its chairman Justice G Yethirajulu and member AK Goel gave this interim order after hearing scores of applicants who took the test in Telugu medium. 

   They alleged that several bloomers crept into the questions translated from English to Telugu.
   The bench directed the state to file an additional counter by January 20 replying to the contentions and questions raised by the applicants.  Owing to the translation errors, the applicants who took the test lost as many as 300 marks, the petitioners said and charged the AP Public Service Commission with not rectifying things. It did not even answer our doubts in its counter, they said. The bench verified with the counsel for the commission and came to a conclusion that certain mistakes did creep in and they were left unattended to. Hence, the bench thought it fit to stay the ongoing process of selection and directed the authorities to file a detailed counter.  The tribunal asked APPSC to answer the following questions such as What was the criteria for selecting candidates for the interview? Was the assessment of answersheets done in a transparent way? What was the key that was taken as a standard in both English and Telugu medium answersheets? What were the inquiries you made so far into the objections raised by the aggrieved students? The matter will now be heard again on January 20.