THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Outgoing chairman of Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) K S Radhakrishnan suggested that the government should introduce an application fee for the examinations conducted by the Commission.
Addressing a presser at the PSC headquarters at Pattom here on Thursday, Radhakrishnan said his recommendation to the government in this regard was gathering dust at the Finance Department.
“Free application is a not a good idea. It is an injustice in some ways. I paid `10 when I applied for a lecturer’s post notified by the PSC for a monthly salary of `460. Free application should be restricted to applicants belonging to SC/ST and BPL category.” said Radhakrishnan.
He pointed out that the PSC spent `210 on every candidate appearing for its exams.This includes the`5 spend on each candidate for booking the exam venues.
Radhakrishnan, who has held the office of the PSC chairman since 2011, said 2.23 crore aspirants had applied for various tests conducted by the Commission under his watch, of which 1.6 lakh had been sent advisory memos.
According to the scholar-turned-PSC chairman, it was the exam that paved the way for the appointment of 609 adivasis as tribal watchers which he regarded as the high point of his five-year-long tenure at the Commission’s helm.
“The PSC team stayed in the forest and identified eligible candidates, including unwed mothers in the locality. Many did not have certificates to prove their age. But we relied on their dental assessment to find age,” he said.