Nearly 5,000 candidates, who came to Hyderabad from different parts of the state to appear for the degree college lecturers’ recruitment exam on Sunday, were in for a rude shock when the AP Public Service Commission postponed the examination indefinitely. The flight carrying the question papers was delayed and arrived the city at 11 am, while the exam was scheduled to begin at eight centres at 11.30 am. Realising that it will take up to four hours to collect the question papers from the airport and to distribute the papers to all the centres, the officials announced at 1.30 pm that the exams would be postponed.
Utter chaos prevailed at exam centres as candidates hung around until the announcement was made. Angry candidates took out a protest rally and held a rasta roko in front of the centres. Candidates were to appear for two papers — one from 11.30 am to 2 pm, and the other from 3 pm to 5.30 pm. As a last-ditch effort, the APPSC tried to hold the exam for Paper-I in the afternoon and hold Paper-II, the next day.
However, when the vehicles carrying the question papers reached the exam centres by 1.30 pm, angry candidates at two centres stopped them and demanded the exam be postponed. Though the papers were peacefully distributed at the other six centres, APPSC had no choice but to postpone the exam in all the centres. APPSC chairperson Rachel Chatterjee regretted the incident but held the paper printer and airline responsible for the mess. She said the question papers were originally scheduled to arrive on Saturday evening, but the printing firm failed to keep its commitment. “The next date of the exam will be announced shortly,” she said.