VIJAYAWADA: The High Court on Monday criticised the AP Public Service Commission (APPSC) for its lack of transparency in evaluating Group-1 Mains answer scripts and directed that officials named as accused be removed from the inquiry process.

A division bench of Justice Battu Devanand and Justice Avadhanam Hari Hara Nath Sharma objected to APPSC’s failure to submit portions of OMR sheets containing candidate details, despite earlier instructions.

The HC ordered the commission to produce the missing details at the next hearing.

The bench sought clarification on whether barcodes on original OMR sheets matched those reprinted for manual evaluation, raising doubts about the technical feasibility.

APPSC was asked to submit names of independent experts to verify these concerns.

Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas informed the court that an additional affidavit, along with all records including photocopies of evaluation payments, had been filed.

Senior advocate P Sriraghuram, appearing for the petitioners, urged the court to keep officials named as accused in the SIT FIR away from all case-related proceedings.

The hearing was adjourned to November 26.