Kerala PSC in trouble again; chairman, members booked over Fisheries Officer exam irregularities
The Kerala Crime Branch has booked the PSC chairman and members over alleged manipulation of the Fisheries Extension Officer recruitment exam to favour KUFOS-linked candidates.
The Kerala Crime Branch has booked the PSC chairman and members over alleged manipulation of the Fisheries Extension Officer recruitment exam to favour KUFOS-linked candidates.
The Kerala Crime Branch has booked the PSC chairman and members over alleged manipulation of the Fisheries Extension Officer recruitment exam to favour KUFOS-linked candidates.
More allegations of examination irregularities have surfaced in the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC), with the Crime Branch booking its chairman and members on charges of manipulation of the recruitment examination for Fisheries Extension Officer posts to favour candidates from the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS).
According to the Crime Branch FIR, the PSC chairman and members allegedly abused their official positions and 'wilfully violated their responsibilities as public servants' to provide undue advantages to certain KUFOS candidates at the expense of deserving applicants. The alleged irregularities relate to the examination for Fisheries Extension Officer posts in the Fisheries Department, notified by the PSC on August 3, 2020, under Category No. 028/2020.
The accused allegedly manipulated the examination and the subsequent rank list (No. 678/2022 SSIV), published on November 28, 2022. The list remained in force until November 28, 2025.
The FIR alleges that candidates from KUFOS, who were close to the PSC chairman, members and officials sympathetic to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), were given undue advantages through manipulation. This, in turn, deprived deserving candidates of equal opportunities for appointment.
The accused have been charged under Sections 7 and 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The FIR also alleges criminal breach of trust and misuse of official authority, causing wrongful gains and undermining public confidence in the commission.
The latest case comes amid the Crime Branch investigation into alleged irregularities in the examination for the post of Planning Board Chief, in which two PSC officials, Additional Secretary R Hari and former Deputy Secretary P Satheesh, have been arrested.
Former Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar, before demitting office, had recommended that President Droupadi Murmu remove PSC chairman M R Baiju and the commission's members from their posts in the wake of a series of allegations against the body.