Gopalakrishna Ronanki, one of the top rankers of 2016 Public services examination has denied the allegations that he had falsely secured a physical disability certificate to manipulate his success in the examination.
Ronanki, who hails from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh and worked as a teacher before clearing the civil services examination and securing third rank, told the media that he belongs to a poor family and could not have manipulated a disability certificate.
He issued the denial after Hyderabad High Court issued him and the Government a notice on a petition filed by a city lawyer Muralikrishna alleging that he had secured a fake disability certificate to benefit in Union Public Services examination.
Ronanki said that he had fallen from a tree in 2002 when he was in studying in class ten and suffered fracture in his right arm. “Since then I was not able to bend my right hand. I was certified by a local Government hospital that I was disabled”.
He also pointed out that even after the personality test at the UPSC he was sent for a medical test at the Rammanohar lohia Hospital in New Delhi and they also certified him to be a disabled.
The issue has become crucial as the physically disabled person requires only 75.34 marks to qualify while a normal person belonging to the Other Backward Castes require 110.66 marks. Ronanki secured 91.34 marks and was declared qualified on the grounds of physical disability.