With the cabinet moving to extend the validity of PSC rank lists, which expire on August 31,  until November 30, candidates in about 60 ranks would benefit from the decision. The move comes after candidates raised complaints claiming that many rank lists did not result in appointments during the previous government's tenure.

The government will also explore options to resolve the delays in reporting vacancies during the election period in the coming days. 

Most of the rank lists, which were set to expire on August 31, are for the College Assistant Professors post. The validity of rank lists for Assistant Professors in Islamic History, Urdu, and Tamil had already expired without a single appointment being made. 

This was primarily due to the non-reporting of vacancies. The LDF government held that the number of Assistant Professors in many subjects was already high, as the academic hours were wrongly calculated.

During the Puduyuga Yatra led by the then Leader of the Opposition, V D Satheesan, many candidates raised complaints demanding a review of the post calculation method and maximum appointments from the rank list. This had factored into the decision to extend the validity.

The validity of Assistant Professor rank lists in Sociology, Political Science, Music, Psychology, Philosophy, Business Administration, Malayalam, and Zoology will now be extended. 

State-level lists that will benefit from the extension include HSS Islamic History, Assistant in Administrative Tribunal, Special Branch Assistant in Police, Fisheries Assistant, and LD Typist in Company-Board-Corporation.

District-level lists such as HST Natural Science, English, Maths, Drawing, and Junior Public Health Nurse are also included.

The next PSC meeting is to be held on May 25. If the cabinet decision recommendation is received before then, the validity extension will be decided at that meeting.

The extension will be effective from that day. The past two LDF governments opined that the validity of rank lists should not be extended regardless of protests or pressure. Rank lists were extended only during the COVID period when appointments were disrupted.