KOCHI: The denial of a government job to a tribal youth because he has protruding teeth, has shaken the conscience of the state. But it is not the first time outdated service rules are posing hurdles to members of tribal community pursuing a government job.
Though the state government recruited 105 candidates to the Kerala Administrative Service this year, not a single member of the tribal community got an opportunity to enter the prestigious state administrative cadre. Reason: The Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, 1958, according to which the rotation chart for reservation in government recruitment is prepared. As per the rotation chart, tribal community has 2 percent reservation and their turn will come at the 44th and 92nd rank.
And the immediate victim of this outdated rotation chart is K Sicylet, a tribal candidate belonging to the Malayaraya community. Though she secured the 34th rank in the second stream, Sicylet couldn’t land a job as her turn was 44.
Why could not the ST candidates get representation even when the state recruited 105 candidates? That is more tricky. The recruitment was divided into three streams of 35 candidates each; A general stream, non-gazetted government staff stream and first gazetted officer stream. As the last rank in each stream was 35, there was no need to accommodate a tribal candidate.
For a primitive community that has been cut off from the mainstream of Kerala’s social life since time immemorial, landing a government job is next to impossible. They fight social and economic barriers to pursue education and the dropout rate is high after Class VIII. Still a few of them like Sicylet manage to secure a degree and enter government service.
Two candidates Sujith K Vijayan and Nikhil Das C L had approached the Kerala State Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commission challenging the denial of opportunity for tribal candidates in the KAS recruitment. The commission ordered that amendments should be made to the KS&SS rules to bring the rotation turn of tribal community to below 20th rank in recruitment.
The government should raise the strength of KAS recruitment to 50 in each stream. If there is a delay in implementing these two recommendations, special cadre posts should be allotted to ensure tribal representation, said the order issued in October 2021. The Kerala Administrative Tribunal had directed the government in its order dated September 30, 2022, to report 54 more vacancies to the Public Service Commission before October 6. The order was issued as the rank list was set to expire on October 7.
However, there was no response. The rank list expired and the tribal candidates lost an opportunity to get into the KAS cadre. “Had the government recruited 33 more candidates, there would have been three tribal candidates in KAS. Apart from Sicylet, Christie Michael who secured 32nd rank in the second stream and Sujith K Vijayan, who came first in the supplementary list, would have got selection. As the rotation chart for Scheduled Caste candidates is Rank 8, 24 and 31, nine SC candidates managed to enter the service. While the person who secured 65th rank managed to enter the service through reservation, the tribal community was denied justice,” said Nikhil Das, an activist.
Responding to complaints regarding injustice to the tribal community, Minister for SC/ST Welfare K Radhakrishnan said he has taken up the matter with the Chief Minister. Sources said the government is trying to address the issue in consultation with the administrative reforms committee and the PSC.
Denied opportunity despite bagging 34th rank
Though K Sicylet secured the 34th rank in the second stream, she couldn’t land a job as her turn was 44. Two candidates— Sujith K Vijayan and Nikhil Das C L— had approached the State Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commission challenging the denial of opportunity in the KAS recruitment