THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The move to exclude employees with various constitutional bodies from getting recruited via ‘by transfer’ postings in the proposed Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) has triggered a wave of complaints.
KAS has been constituted to build a cadre of public servants as a second line of managerial talent for the government. The service came into being from January 1. An RTI reply from the Personnel and Administrative Department revealed KAS special rules do not provide ‘by transfer’ recruitment from regular employees or approved probationers working in constitutional bodies.
In its reply, the appellate authority of the department said as per the mode of recruitment in the special rules, the word ‘constitutional bodies’ was included inadvertently and there was no provision to provide ‘by transfer’ postings to employees of constitutional bodies.
Employees of PSC, Assembly and AG’s Office will be denied the chance of getting recruited to KAS if the government amends the special rules.
Some PSC employees alleged while the government’s aim is to provide opportunities to bright, talented and committed officers and prepare them for senior-level administrative and managerial positions, a section of Secretariat officers are sabotaging the plan. “KAS will be a feeder category for the IAS Kerala cadre through appointment by promotion from the State Civil Service (SCS) superseding the existing rules in this regard. Though the notification in this regard was issued on December 29, 2017, so far no vacancy was reported to the PSC,” a PSC employee said on condition of anonymity.
An officer with a pro-Congress union in the PSC added, “A section of Secretariat employees who do not want to implement the KAS want recruitment to be delayed at least by one-and-a-half years. They believe that if they delay the process, the government will not be able to press for implementing the KAS in its remaining tenure.”
The PSC employees point out that employees with constitutional bodies have parity with Secretariat colleagues in all normal matters as they are recruited through the same process and same kind of rank list. They are also eligible for ‘by transfer’ postings as financial assistant, divisional accountant and legal assistant.
Kerala Secretariat Association general secretary T Sreekumar said the body is not against the inclusion of employees in constitutional bodies. “We have been asking the government to exclude Secretariat services from the KAS as it will affect our promotion scope. We have no problem in including any department in the KAS,” he said.