Court said merit. TDP heard applause
Andhra’s TDP says Mega DSC-2025 was court‑cleared. The High Court’s actual order? Fix your selections by merit — not by box‑ticked preferences.
The court’s direction was to align selections with merit.
The TDP government in Andhra Pradesh has been waving “court‑upheld” as a magic stamp on Mega DSC‑2025. The record is less flattering. On December 29, 2025, the Andhra Pradesh High Court directed the government to consider petitioners for School Assistant posts by their merit rank — not let application‑stage preferences trump merit. That is a correction, not a clean chit.
A follow‑on order in January 2026 said the same issue was covered and extended similar relief across categories — again, the court stepping in to course‑correct rather than writing a testimonial. Earlier, a division bench, as reported then, rapped the state for ignoring merit and asked the obvious: if preferences decide, what is the value of topping the SA test?
Meanwhile, the ruling TDP’s spokesperson has dismissed YSRCP’s protests and said the drive was transparent, paper‑leak‑free, and upheld despite “several complaints”. The Education Secretary has rolled out big numbers on posts notified, applicants and appointment orders, and said rules were followed. Those are government claims. An independent audit that answers each allegation is not on the table.
What is on the table: multiple court interventions telling the TDP administration to align selections with merit. Telangana knows this playbook — a party in Amaravati shouts “settled by court” while the court is literally telling it to fix basics. The TDP government in Andhra should try reading the order before quoting it.