Kottayam: Kerala industries minister E P Jayarajan may have backtracked on a decision to appoint his nephew to a key position in the department after a public outcry. The sports department, however, has been doing just that ever since the Left Democratic Front came to power in May. The department has witnessed greater levels of favoritism when it comes to appointments.
Away from the spotlight, the ruling CPM has lowered the bar for appointments in the department for its members. The Sports Council of Kerala has fired about 40 contract employees from the district councils and various stadiums and replaced them with party members with little experience in sports management.
There were no newspaper notifications regarding the eligibility criteria as mandated by rules and there were no circulars to the district councils intimating the vacancies. Not even a proper interview board was constituted in many instances. Candidates were summoned through phone to the interviews conducted at the Sports Council office. Their only qualification: a letter from the CPM’s local area secretary.
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As many as 14 employees of the Aquatic Center at Pirappankode in Thiruvananthapuram had been shown the door after the Left Democratic Front government came to power in May. Former international swimmer S Sasidharan Nair was replaced as the stadium administrator by a CPM branch committee secretary last month.
Many of his colleagues, including former swimming champions, were also booted out before their contracts expired. They include three life guards, two security guards, three plant operators, two cleaning staff and an electrical supervisor. All of them except the electrical supervisor had made their mark in various swimming championships.
Kavyadan Sasi, another national swimmer, was also subjected to such a humiliating treatment. He was sacked as the administrator of the Sreepadam Indoor Stadium at Attingal and his successor was appointed even without conducting an interview.
At least three employees of the Kollam Hockey Stadium – caretaker, security guard and pump operator – also lost their jobs in the covert reshuffle.
At least four temporary employees of the Nandiyod swimming pool in Thiruvananthapuram were sacked apart from 15 temporary clerks and peons in the state and district sports councils. Most of them landed the jobs thanks to their impressive track records in sports. Their replacements were chosen by two CPM leaders who were members of the Sports Council administrative board.