Thiruvananthapuram: Even as hundreds of rank lists drawn up for appointment to state government jobs expired the other day thus dashing hopes of thousands of qualified jobseekers, the head of the Kerala Public Service Commission defended the public recruiter by claiming that it had been prompt in its activities despite the adverse circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic since last year.
The Kerala Public Service Commission sent advice memos to 30,000 job aspirants from March 2020 till last month, PSC Chairman M K Sakeer claimed.
Despite the Covid pandemic, the PSC ensured full attendance (of its staff) and duly sent advice memos. In order to avoid delays that arise over sending via post, candidates were informed via mobile messages. A special wing has been set up for appointments and another for verifications, the Chairman stated.
(An advice memo precedes the appointment letter. With the former the Kerala PSC advises a candidate or rank holder, who has a rank in the PSC list, about a job vacancy reported to it by government departments or organisations.)
The break-up
Sakeer also detailed the number of advice memos sent for different rank lists.
"Of the 56,807 job aspirants who were included in the LD clerk rank list that was published in 2012, advice memos were sent to 11,830 (20.82 per cent) rank holders. Out of the 48,687 candidates in the rank list published in 2015, advice memos were sent to 11,452 (23.52 per cent). Of the 35,631 included in this year's LDC rank list, advice memos were sent to 10,434 (29.28%) till July 30. The highest percentage of advice memos were issued from this rank list.
A total of 7,090 advice memos were issued from the LGS rank list. This is in addition to the 700-odd vacancies in Secretariat/PSC departments that were separated from this list. Also, 981 vacancies remain to be filled and with that, it will be 8,071, the Chairman clarified.
Special norms for document verification
The norms stipulate that the candidate should appear in person for the verification of documents but this will be relaxed when the Covid pandemic is under control. Those who are abroad or unable to attend can depute another person to attend on their behalf. At that time, the candidate should be present via video call, the PSC chief said.
'All rank lists on equal footing'
The PSC publishes around 800 rank lists a year and candidates in all rank lists are equal before the PSC, the Chairman stressed.
"The law does not permit to give selective preference to anyone. Staking claim to vacancies that were created after the expiry of rank lists would deny the opportunity for lakhs of candidates who write the exam aiming for that. Everybody should also think about the 30 lakh candidates who have written the exam this year,” he explained.
KAS rank list
The PSC chairman also said that the Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) rank list will be a reality on November 1.
The syllabus of the LDC final examination has been published on the website. The new LDC and LGS rank lists are expected to be out by December.
Recently, the Kerala government had decided not to extend the validity of 493 PSC rank lists that were due to expire on August 4. The Opposition and the affected rank holders subsequently protested in the Legislature and before the Secretariat, respectively. Several youth had hoped to secure a placement in the Kerala Government Service after qualifying in the PSC tests held for recruitment to various posts.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the Assembly on Monday that it would not be possible to give jobs to all those whose names found a place in these lists published earlier by the PSC.
