THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Setting a new record, 703 sportspersons were appointed in various government departments under the sports quota in seven years. The state government has been implementing the appointments that were stalled between 2010 and 2014. It appointed 65 more people from the 2010-14 rank list. In addition, 31 people were appointed under the sports quota in the police department and 27 in KSEB.
In a statement, a sports department official said that the sports quota recruitment process for the 2015-19 period was in progress and the certificate verification completed. The process of publishing the rank list is in its final stage. A total of 249 people will be appointed from this list. Earlier, footballer C K Vineeth was also given a job under special treatment. Apart from this, new sports quota appointments will also be made in the Kerala Police and KSEB, the statement said.
The 2010-14 sports quota appointment was stalled by the then UDF government. The succeeding LDF government published the rank list in February 2019, which included 409 candidates. All 250 vacant posts have been filled. During the previous UDF government, only 110 sports persons were appointed in five years.
The UDF government had promised that 83 athletes who won silver and bronze medals in the team event at the National Games held in Kerala in 2015 would be appointed to public sector institutions. However, this was not practical In 2021, the state government created a supernumerary post in the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs and appointed these sports persons as LDC posts. As many as 68 individual gold, silver, and bronze medalists and team gold medal winners at the 2015 National Games have already been inducted.