Kasaragod: In Kerala’s Saptha Bhasha Sangama Bhoomi, a linguistic tug-of-war is playing out over clerical appointments. Malayali candidates in the PSC's ranked list have challenged the reservation of up to 50% of clerk posts in government offices for Kannada-knowing applicants - a quota they say lacks both data and requirements.

The administrative feud and delay have left the candidates edgy because their ranked list published on August 1, 2022, expires in just 80 days - on July 30, 2025. Across Kerala, the average appointment rate from district-ranked lists is 30%. In Kasaragod, it's just 21%. For the Kannada-knowing candidates, the situation is even bleaker -- the last appointments were made in 2013, and a fresh list hasn’t been published since.

The language conflict among clerk applicants sharpened when, in 2022, the then Collector Bhandari Swagat Ranveerchand reserved 53 of the 106 or 50% of clerk posts in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar taluks for Kannada-knowing candidates. These taluks are identified as linguistic minority areas, with 30% of the population reporting a mother tongue other than Malayalam, according to the 2011 Census.

But RTI replies and official correspondence show that between January 2024 and January 2025, not a single application was received in Kannada at key offices - including the RDO, tahsildars for Revenue Recovery and Land Acquisition, KIIFB, and the Deputy Director of Survey. Yet, these offices still employ clerks from a separate Kannada list.

It is not just the Revenue Department - Kerala’s biggest employer of clerks - that appears to be working without adequate Kannada content but with more than required Kannada-knowing staff.

There are 24 Kannada-knowing clerks in 16 offices across Kasaragod and Manjeshwar - from GST and Treasury to Motor Vehicle to Fire & Rescue - but not a single Kannada file in the past year, candidate Rahana P said, citing RTI replies. Rahana is ranked 276th in the Malayalam list. So far, PSC has given advice memos up to Rank 208. She believes she stands a chance if some of these reserved posts are reclassified as open.

The tribunal battles have already borne fruit for Malayalam-knowing candidates. Following petitions from candidates in Kasaragod and Palakkad, the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) has pushed the government to reassess the linguistic minority status of Palakkad municipality area, where the Tamil-speaking population has slipped below the 15% threshold, and is now hovering near 10%.

Even the government in Thiruvananthapuram agrees with the candidates: the "strength" of Tamil and Kannada-knowing clerks, decided by district heads, doesn’t match the actual demand.

As directed by the tribunal, the General Administrative Department came up with a guideline that the number of applications in Kannada and Tamil will determine the required number of Kannada- and Tamil-knowing clerks in Kasaragod, Palakkad, Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram districts, which have linguistic minority areas.

But Kasaragod Collector Inbasekar K resists this method. Officials close to him said the application numbers do not reflect ground reality.

Missive fight and closing deadline

KAT struck down the 50% reservation for Kannada-knowing clerks in June 2022, ordering the government to determine the required strength within two months. The tribunal's March 5, 2024, order reiterated this, and asked the government to frame guidelines to fix the required strength of Kannada- and Tamil-knowing clerks within three months.

After a delay of seven months and 10 days, guidelines finally arrived on January 15, 2025, based on the language of applications. But Kasaragod's Collector stalled. "He takes his own sweet time replying, and even then sends incomplete data," said Rahana. "We want a decision before the list expires."

Manjeshwar and Kasaragod: different realities

Onmanorama has seen the to-and-fro letters between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod. The Collector's letters do not match the government's requirements.

The General Administrative Department had asked for a breakdown of applications by language, the total number of clerk posts, and how many were reserved.

On February 22, the Collector sent data from 11 offices, including Manjeshwar and Kasaragod taluks. The figures were revealing.

In Manjeshwar taluk office, 97.74% of applications were in English; 1.5% in Kannada; and less than 1% in Malayalam.

In village offices under Manjeshwar, 72% English; 22% Kannada; and 6% Malayalam.

By contrast, in Kasaragod taluk office, 90% of applications were in Malayalam; 7% in Kannada; and 2% in English.

The Land Revenue Commissioner pointed out that the Collector included Manjeshwar's tahsildar report but skipped the report from Kasaragod, where the data appeared in favour of Malayalam.

The Collector in his second letter claimed the recommendations were the same — that Kannada-knowing staff were needed in Kasaragod taluk, and border villages such as Adoor, Adhur, Delampady and Nettanige, 60% of the people were dependent on Kannada.

In Manjeshwar taluk, 75% of the population is dependent on Kannada, and in border panchayats, the number goes up to 90%.

But when the Land Commissioner insisted on Kasaragod data, the Collector, on April 8, wrote: "There is no government criterion to determine the number of Kannada posts based on application language. The 53 posts reserved for Kannada-Malayalam clerks should be retained."

Exasperated, the Additional Chief Secretary responded on April 29, saying the reply "does not comply with instructions" and demanded specifics -- total clerk posts, reserved posts, and language percentages.

On May 5, the Collector replied again, clinging to the 53 reserved posts in Revenue offices.

Meanwhile, the candidates took matters into their own hands. On May 9, they met officials in the capital, submitting RTI-sourced data from each office. "We don’t have time for endless letters," said Rahana.

Sub-head Collector's case

The 2011 Census puts the Malayalam-speaking population at 71% in the undivided Kasaragod taluk. Kannada speakers make up 7%, and Tulu speakers -- who read and write Kannada -- 16%.

After Kasaragod taluk was bifurcated in 2013, most Kannada speakers fell into Manjeshwar taluk, where government schools follow the Kannada medium even for students with Malayalam mother tongue. Tulu, Konkani, Marathi, and Urdu speakers also follow Kannada medium.

"But outside the few border villages, Kasaragod taluk isn’t Kannada-heavy," said Rahana. "In most villages, even MGNREGS reports are in Malayalam."

A deputy tahsildar who helped prepare the Kasaragod taluk report said the taluk has 39 clerk posts. But only 7% of the applications were in Kannada. That would translate to just three posts for Kannada-knowing clerks. "But we recommended 14 posts (36%), reflecting the population dependent on Kannada," he said.

But the Collector did one better and retained the 22 posts for Kannada-knowing clerks.

Ganesh Prasad, a Kannada activist, agreed with the Collector. "We cannot go by the applications. People are not using Kannada because they are discouraged or there aren't enough officials to understand Kannada. Their letters and applications are written by agents. Check the signatures. They will be in Kannada. That's the only language they know," he said.

If the Revenue Department is excluded, there are 377 clerk posts in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar. Of that, only 49 are reserved for Kannada-knowing clerks. "Most of them are vacant because the government has not made any Kannada appointments since 2013," he said.