Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC), already under the scanner of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) over alleged irregularities in recruitment to a top post in the State Planning Board, is facing a fresh complaint, this time over the appointment of Deputy Superintendents of Police (DySPs).
The latest complaint alleges that the PSC completed the special recruitment process for DySPs at an unusually fast pace, raising questions about the selection and appointment of the candidates.
The written examination was held in December last year; the rank list was published in the first week of May, and appointment orders were issued in June.
The complaint was lodged by R.S. Sasikumar, chairman of the Save University Campaign Committee, who has sought an investigation into the selection. He alleged that the candidate who secured the first rank, an SFI leader, had several criminal cases against him. Sasikumar has taken up the matter with Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan.
The candidate, however, has rejected the allegations, saying he figures in the rank lists of other PSC examinations also. He has alleged that the complaint is intended to prevent his appointment.
The fresh controversy comes at a time when the PSC is facing an unprecedented investigation into alleged examination and recruitment irregularities. The Crime Branch SIT, constituted by the Satheesan government soon after it assumed office in May, is probing allegations relating to recruitment to a senior post in the State Planning Board.
The investigation has already seen the PSC chairman, Dr M.R. Baiju, and three members being questioned. The remaining 12 members are scheduled to be questioned from Monday.
PSC Secretary Saju George is also due to appear before the SIT for the second consecutive day on Monday. All the 16 members of the present PSC, including its chairman, were appointed during the decade-long tenure of the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government, which ended in May this year.
The questioning of the Commission's top functionaries and the emergence of fresh complaints have brought its recruitment procedures under renewed scrutiny.
The government has maintained that the investigation will establish whether there were deliberate attempts to manipulate the recruitment process and undermine the credibility of the state's largest recruitment agency.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
