KOCHI: Kerala Public Service Commission Members have approached the High Court alleging discrepancies and irregularities in the selection to a number of posts as well as the general administration and functioning of the Commission.
The petition filed by U Suresh Kumar and V T Thomas, members of PSC, also sought to declare that the Chairman of the PSC cannot take unilateral decisions in the functioning of the commission and can act only in accordance with the regulations. The petitioners challenged ‘the series of actions related to the constitutional duty of the Commission as well as the internal administration without any legal or constitutional backing’. According to them, the issues had affected the working of the Commission itself. The principal constitutional duty of the Commission is to conduct examinations for the appointment to the various services in the state government. The rules for the said purpose are also framed. However, these are being flouted by the Chairman, the petition says. The petitioners cited some instances, including the appointments to the posts of Junior Instructor in Photography and Fashion Technology. The decision of the Commission to conduct an OMR test prior to further scrutiny of the applicants was overturned and out of the 9,849 applicants, only two candidates were selected without following the established procedure for scrutiny of applications. In another instance, the approved interview programme for March 2015 was altered and another interview board was constituted without the concurrence of the Commission, the petition alleges.
According to the petition, the collective decisions of the majority of the Commission with respect to the notification of vacancies in the Assistants in the office of Enquiry Commissioner and Vigilance Court and Sub-Inspectors were overturned as evident from the minutes. In most cases, the rule of majority and the obligation on part of the Chairman to postpone the decision-making unless with the concurrence of absentee members is obtained are flouted.
Most decisions of the Commission are not regularly communicated to the members. Not even the meetings of the Commission are convened on the first day of every week, the petitioners submitted.