The Telangana Public Service Commission (TSPSC) is caught in a dilemma over the recruitment of Assistant Engineer (AE) posts with the candidates requesting it to stop the declaration of results till the Assistant Executive Engineers (AEE) posts are filled.

The contention of the candidates is that they would lose an opportunity to compete for AEE posts, which are gazetted rank, if the AE list is out first and they are recruited. The government norms say that the merit list of an examination cannot be considered for other recruitment. More so, recruitment process of both streams is different.

The AEE exam was conducted on September 9 for 931 posts, while the AE exam was held on November 7 to fill up 1,058 posts. The TSPSC has called for certificate verification of successful candidates recently, but the merit list is yet to be released. Interestingly, there is an overlap of successful candidates in both the tests and this would hinder a better opportunity for them.

The problem that TSPSC faces is that it will take at least 20 to 25 days to declare the results of AEE since interviews have to be conducted for nearly 2,000 candidates. Results of AE posts can be released immediately since they are based only on written merit. The TSPSC is in a hurry to release the results since the government departments are requesting it to finalise recruitment at the earliest given the need for staff at the ground level, particularly in Irrigation and Rural Water Supply.

TSPSC Chairman Ghanta Chakrapani, when contacted said the Commission understands the dilemma of candidates. The Commission is communicating with the government to either amend the existing order to use the same merit list for both the jobs or wait for the declaration of total results till the AEE interview process is over.

Meanwhile, candidates represented their issue to the TSPSC and Nizamabad MP K. Kavitha.