Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (PSC) has finally decided to implement the High Court directions and conduct KAS (2016) Mains exams afresh.

The decision was taken after the commission held a meeting of its members on Wednesday.

“We have decided to implement the High Court orders and conduct the Mains exams afresh,” one of the PSC members who was part of the Commission meeting said.

He said the revised list of the candidates eligible for Mains exams will also be released and uploaded on the official website.

“We will see the revised and previous merit and issue the list of eligible candidates accordingly,” he said.

The PSC member said the members unanimously decided in the meeting to implement the High Court judgment.

“We decided not to approach the Supreme Court with Special Leave Petition (SPL) and abide by the High Court judgment,” he said.

It may be recalled that after holding preliminary examination, the PSC vide Notification No. PSC/Exam/2017/22 dated 23.04.2017 declared 6925 out of 47000 candidates to have qualified for KAS Mains Examination. The cut-off mark was declared as 270.477 out of aggregate of 450 marks.

However, after considering representations of candidates on wrong answer key, the Commission issued a revised list with cut off merit 277.275 as a result of which 429 candidates who were figuring in un-revised list were excluded.

Pertinently, the authorities in PSC conducted the KAS 2016 Mains exams without allowing the ousted 429 candidates to participate. In the meantime the High Court on Tuesday directed the PSC to cancel the ongoing KAS mains examination and hold this test afresh.

A division bench of Justice Janak Raj Kotwal and Justice Sanjeev Kumar Shukla directed the Public Service Commission (PSC) to conduct the examination afresh after disposing off an appeal filed by the PSC against its single bench order allowing 429 candidates to appear in the mains examination.

“We direct the cancellation of the main examination at whatever stage it is as on date and direct the appellant (PSC) to hold the main examination afresh,” said the Bench.

The court directed the PSC to permit the candidates (429), who have been shortlisted to participate in the preliminary examination on the basis of their merit determined upon re-evaluation of the preliminary exam.

It also directed the PSC to allow 2365 candidates who have obtained higher merit in the process of reevaluation equal to or more than the marks secured by the last candidate amongst 429 candidates.

“Since the examination in question has been delayed due to litigation, we hope and trust that the appellant (PSC) takes immediate steps to hold the main examination and complete the whole process culminating into declaration of result without any further wastage of time,” the bench said.

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