THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) had implemented an illegal weightage in sub-inspector trainee recruitment for four decades, the State Information Commission (SIC) has found.Weightage was given for “graduate and post-graduate in criminology, social work and social sciences” in recruitment between 1970 and 2014 on the basis of a communication from the Union Home Secretary in March 1970.
The SIC found that the KPSC misinterpreted a circular of request from the officer as a direction. Even then, the PSC was not authorised to implement it without government sanction. The SIC intervention was based on an appeal petition filed by Lindons C Davis, against the PSC for denying a copy of the Act or government order based on which the weightage was implemented. Curiously, the KPSC excluded the weightage from recruitment notifications issued after receiving the RTI application from Lindons in January 2014.
Calling for an internal inquiry by the PSC into the issue, State Information Commissioner S Somanathan Pillai observed the failure on the part of the PSC officers to produce relevant documents “makes the issue more murky”. The PSC also failed to ascertain the authenticity of the circular, the SIC noted.
The Commission found the PSC officers concerned manipulated the wording in the circular which strengthened the suspicion of a fraud. While the circular suggested to give weightage to graduates and post-graduates in criminology or social sciences, the KPSC misinterpreted it as experience in social work. “It must be the product of a criminal conspiracy brewed by some corrupt officials in the PSC to illegally gratify somebody with a graduation or post-graduation in criminology or having some experience in social work,” the SIC said in its order.
WRONG WEIGHTAGE
Weightage was given for “graduate and post-graduate in criminology, social work and social sciences” in recruitment between 1970 and 2014
It was done on the basis of a communication from the Union Home Secretary in March 1970
The SIC found that the KPSC misinterpreted a circular of request from the Union Home Secretary as a direction