KOCHI: As debate rages on the bloated number of government employees in the state, the inflated structure of the statutory body for selecting them — the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) board — too has come under the lens. Even the UPSC has fewer members on its board.
A note prepared by K V Joseph, a former member of Kerala Public Expenditure Committee, said the state cannot justify the need for 21 members on its PSC board when Uttar Pradesh, which has six times the population of Kerala, has only five members on its PSC. Maharashtra and West Bengal too have only five members each on their respective PSC boards. “How can Kerala justify a PSC with such a huge size at a time when the state is passing through a financial crisis?,” he asked in the note.
Worse is that the members of the PSC, a semi-judicial body expected to be impartial, are selected on a quota basis by political parties.“The members are selected by political parties based on their party affiliation. How can such a body be impartial in the selection of government officials?,” asked Joseph, a director of Thiruvananthapuram-based International Institute of Migration and Development.
Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT) former director D Narayana said the PSC board should have senior academicians and people with domain knowledge and administrative experience.“Seven persons in the 21-member Kerala PSC have PhD, but none seems to be senior academicians. Funnily enough, we don’t find the members’ profiles on the PSC website. ” he said.
UPSC has only 10 members on its board
“What are they hiding from the public? Shouldn’t a professionally qualified candidate feel confident that the committee members are qualified to assess her?” Narayana asked. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which conducts the prestigious civil service examination, has only 10 members on its board.
“The UPSC board conducts tests for the largest number of candidates perhaps in the whole world, from Defence Service Examination to Indian Forest Service Examination and Indian Economic Service examination every year and selects staff for various categories of occupation of the Central government. It has only 10 members,” said Joseph.
Narayana said the public service commissions (Union and states) are constitutional bodies that draw power under Article 315 of the Constitution entrusted with the responsibility of conducting examinations for appointments to the services of the Union and states respectively.
“When we think of examinations and recruitment, what comes to our mind is senior academicians, and people with domain knowledge and vast administrative experience. That is why you see UPSC with nine members three of whom are senior academicians and five retired from all India services and one Air Marshall. Maybe when a candidate sits in front of a selection board with such members, one feels confident that they know their subject,” he said. Jose Sebastian, former faculty of GIFT, said while one member of Kerala PSC is a last-grade librarian, another one or two members are non-gazetted officers who started their careers as lower division clerks.
PSC board members
UPSC 10
Kerala 21
UP 5
Maharashtra 5
West Bengal 5
Tamil Nadu 15
Karnataka 15
Profiles missing
Profile of Kerala PSC members not available on its website