Here's the Kerala model of granting permanent govt jobs to party cronies | Part 2

Here's the Kerala model of granting permanent govt jobs to party cronies

Part 1: An uphill job! PSC rank-holders wait eternally for offer letters

Tense and heart-rending scenes are being witnessed in front of the seat of the Kerala Government these days as hundreds of youth who have cleared the public examinations for jobs in the state administration are protesting against the undue delay in making appointments and the brazen employment regularisation of temporary employees in the coveted government service.

The protesters have been staging different modes of protest in a desperate attempt to impress upon their authorities that their cause is genuine and they need urgent redressal by way of making appointments against the vacancies or even creating new posts before the validity of the PSC rank lists expires. A few even threatened to immolate themselves but the Left Democratic Government is unmoved and dubs the agitation as drama, nuisance and a ploy of the opposition to embarrass the state authorities.

The protestors have been alleging that the government is not making known the full list of vacant positions that can be filled by drafting the PSC rank-holders. But the government is hurrying to take a final decision on regularising posts in many organisations before the assembly elections are declared. How does the influential people in the state administration including the political leaders go about allotting permanent posting to temporary employees who are mostly cherry-picked on the basis of their political affiliations and utility to the ruling dispensation?

A 'parallel recruitment' machinery consisting of politicians and bureaucrats continues to create temporary posts and recruit people by keeping the Public Service Commission completely in the dark.

No financial bother

Hundreds of temporary employees, including daily wagers, are being included the permanent rolls of the state government. Permanent employees obviously entail higher service cost in terms of salaries, emoluments and later by way of pension. In a bid to please its supporters the LDF government is now in the midst of regularising several temporary staff despite objections raised by the Law and Finance departments. Financial burden to the state coffers is not a concern as the government solicits and endorses lists of temporary employees.

For instance steps are afoot to provide permanent appointments to about 300 contract employees of institutions under the Cooperative Academy of Professional Education (CAPE), which is in the midst of a financial crisis. The executive committee of CAPE, which met on December 22, has referred the matter to the Council of Ministers for its consideration. Employees have been told that at least 55 people will be made permanent. As CAPE has under it nine engineering colleges, one MBA college and the Sagara Hospital, Punnapra in Alappuzha district, that won't be difficult.

The list of those recommended for permanent appointments include people close to CPM ministers Thomas Isaac, G Sudhakaran and Kadakampally Surendran.

The CAPE authorities have proposed to regularise the employees despite a case pending in the Supreme Court challenging an earlier decision of the cooperative body to make contract employees permanent.

The Women's Development Corporation too is among the latest additions to the list of units that have sought to regularise temporary appointments. Here 29 temporary employees have been recommended for permanent appointment in various posts, including some that were previously handed over to the PSC. The list for appointment to 17 approved posts and 12 supernumerary posts includes the names of those who are yet to complete 10 years of service as temporary employees.

Ghost appointments too

The modus operandi of the 'recruitment team' at the Secretariat is to appoint people to non-existent posts and then get them regularised. For instance, there is no such post as a telephone cleaner. However, a few people are working in that position. Three people who were appointed on a temporary basis to this 'post' were later regularised. They were also promoted as office attendants by the current government.

Similarly, part-time sweepers were also appointed in violation of rules.

Comeback personnel

What’s more, even retired union leaders are being reinstated in various posts in government agencies as a token of gratitude. A relative of a minister who had worked as the additional secretary of the department of NORKA (Non-Resident Keralites Affairs) was appointed as its liaison officer after retirement. An additional secretary who retired from the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department (P&ARD) of the state government was reappointed in the KINFRA with a salary, which is in addition to the pension being drawn after retirement from the earlier post!

When new 'posts' are created or when retired people are appointed to various posts, it is the PSC rank- holders who are dealt a blow.

Jobs only for near and dear ones

While backdoor appointments and regularisations are being done at the behest of the ruling parties in many institutions, at KERAFED, preference is given to people who are close to top officials. The daughter of a maid who took care of the grandson of a top official and the daughter of the priest of a temple he used to visit regularly have been given employment in the organisation.

Even though they were initially appointed through employment exchanges, they were not asked to leave after their terms ended. They were instead first hired on a daily-wage basis and later on contract.

Another higher-level official at KERAFED has hired a neighbour as his driver. The move to regularise all such cronies is happening at a brisk pace.

Temp hirings for new entities

Usually, new entities are set up by governments for sectors that they deem should be given priority. The C-DIT was formed at a time when the government felt the need to have its own company in the IT sector. Thus the government also founded Keltron in the field of electronics. Also, when Literacy and Life missions were announced, many employees were appointed for those schemes, too, and they served a purpose.

If appointments to such organisations are to be carried out through the PSC, then it is mandatory to enforce special rules. Since this requires proper study and much time, the government doesn't wait, but launches the new entities with temporary appointments. But the appointment process is usually not transparent. An advertisement about such appointments is usually given in the newspaper and then an ad-hoc interview board is formed. However, appointments are often made from the list of people received from the offices of the Left ministers and from the Communist party’s district committees.

When the United Democratic Government is in power such lists are often despatched from the minister's office. The district committees of parties, for instance the District Congress Committee, don't intervene in such appointments. Crucially, the appointment order itself would state that the appointments would be temporary till the recruitment is handed over to the PSC.

The term of temporary employees is one year. However, when it expires, new hiring is not usually done, allowing the old employees to continue in the posts.

Compassionate government!

LDF ministers and the cyberwarriors of the ruling party claim that confirming temporary people in their posts is an act of mercy. But not many know the mercy postings come at a price! The tragic case of 40-year-old Ajayan from Kollam is testimony.

Here's the Kerala model of granting permanent govt jobs to party cronies
Ajayan

Ajayan, who is unmarried, has been employed as a khalasi on a temporary basis at the Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd, Chavara, for 20 years. Despite making it to the list of those selected for permanent appointment after interview, he has not benefited from this 'mercy'. Ajayan topped the waiting list for the 2018 rankings and there is nothing to bar him from being appointed. But, even as the list remains valid, applications were invited for the post of eight more junior khalasis.

Ajay’s case was ignored because neither does he have the money to grease the palms of union leaders nor does he have any political godfathers. Instead, there is now a move to appoint a Thiruvananthapuram native who is currently working as an office assistant in a minister's office and a DYFI leader who had failed the skills test. The interview for the posts is about to commence, but Ajayan is likely hoping against hope to get a permanent posting so that he too can enjoy a better salary and retirement benefits.

Norms thrown to wind

Governments follow the general principle that those who work for 10 consecutive years can be made permanent. Although this by itself is illegal, regularisation of temporary and contract workers has been going on for ages as no one has ever objected to that.

Whenever mass regularisation of temporary employees are made organisations in the government sector in Kerala usually recommend people who have completed 10 years or more of service. However, such norms or conventions have been ignored in the current service regularisation drive of the LDF dispensation. The Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO), under the Department of Industries, has reduced the minimum 10-year tenure requirement to seven years.

SIDCO's Administrative Officer has written to the division heads seeking a list of those who have been working on temporary basis for at least seven years.

As is the convention, the list of those who have to be regularised is first sent by the heads of the organisations to the directorate. From there, the file is sent to the department concerned. The file will move quickly if the list has names of people close to the ruling party. When the file reaches the minister, a decision is taken by taking into account the political ramifications. It is then sent to the finance and law departments for their opinion.

The Finance and Law Departments will often disagree with the move to regularise people because of the Supreme Court ruling which says that temporary employees should not be made permanent no matter what the length of their service. The file will then be returned to the parent department with the objection. The minister will then forward the file to the chief minister to take a decision.

But the Cabinet will have its way

With the Legal and Finance departments raising objection and since this is a very important issue, the chief minister will place the file before the Cabinet to ensure joint responsibility in the decision. And often, neither the finance minister or the law minister, whose departments had earlier objected to the move, would oppose it during the Cabinet meeting!

Finally, the order is issued

Once the government issues an order based on the Cabinet decision, the temporary employees become permanent. Such orders are often issued on the eve of a court holiday. This is to ensure that no one goes to court to get a stay order from the court before those whose appointments are regularised enter the now permanent job.

In each order regularising appointments, the government would state that it shouldn’t become the norm. But, the truth is governments have had this as the norm for decades now.

Governments have maintained this practice for decades, despite the fact that all stabilization orders state that it should not be practised.

Salary paid with government grants

If there are more than 10 temporary employees, then permission should be sought from the government before the first salary is paid or a decision has to be made at the level of the director of the organisation. This is envisaged as a check as employees are paid from the grant the organisation receives from the government. Some companies like Keltron, which makes their own revenue, don’t need government assistance to pay salaries.

High Court censure has limits

The High Court has ordered that the special rule for handing over appointments to the PSC should be implemented immediately, but that may happen only after those close to the party and relatives of supporters are first regularised!

Meanwhile, the government claims that the ongoing regularisation drive will not in any way affect those who have cleared the PSC exam and are awaiting appointment. But a scrutiny of the procedures by which people are hired on a temporary basis and then regularised will expose the government's stand.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had announced in the Assembly that appointments in co-operative and apex institutions would be handed over to the PSC within three months, but that move was subverted. This was done by deceiving job-seekers and courts through devious means. More about that tomorrow.

Contributed by: Renji Kuriakose, Jayan Menon, Jayachandran Ilankath, M R Harikumar, V R Prathap, Manoj Kadampad, Joji Simon, K P Safina. Compiled by: Nidheesh Chandran.

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