THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state Public Service Commission (PSC) will meet on Monday in the wake of the Supreme Court upholding the eligibility of Higher Secondary teachers for direct recruitment to the Kerala Administrative Service (KAS).“The PSC board will discuss how to go about with the KAS stream 3 examination in the light of the recent Supreme Court verdict,” PSC chairman M K Sakeer said. According to sources, a decision on issuing a fresh notification for conducting KAS stream 3 examination, by inviting applications from the higher secondary teachers also, is likely to be taken soon.
Higher Secondary teachers were not permitted to write KAS stream 3 category examination to which other gazetted officials are considered for direct recruitment. Lack of administrative experience was cited by the government as the reason for excluding them.
As no higher secondary teacher in gazetted rank was able to apply for stream 3 category recruitment in KAS, they approached the High Court which ruled in their favour. The government, which appealed in the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict, was dealt a blow when the apex court too ruled in the teachers’ favour.
According to Higher Secondary School Teachers Association (HSSTA) state general secretary Anil M George, the government’s argument, that Higher Secondary senior teachers could be considered only for recruitment in future, has been turned down by the apex court. He urged the government to shun its adamant stance of keeping away Higher Secondary teachers from KAS.