JOIN USThe Cabinet on Wednesday accepted the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal’s order to recruit those on a hiring list it had scrapped in 2014.
This marks a U-turn from the Cabinet’s decision to annul the 2011 list of 362 gazetted probationers selected by the Karnataka Public Service Commission.
A meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah decided to honour the October 2016 order of the KAT to restore the list. The government will not appeal against the order.
“The KAT has rejected all charges made by the CID in its report on alleged irregularities... And the Cabinet has accepted the order in the interest of administration,” Law Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
In August 2014, the Siddaramaiah government had jettisoned the KPSC’s final list of 362 candidates on the basis of a CID investigation. The CID had found large-scale irregularities in the recruitment and recommended the prosecution of Gonal Bhimappa, the then chairman of KPSC, and other members of the commission.
The government had scrapped the list in the face of stiff opposition from the candidates and the Opposition BJP and the JD(S). Describing it as a historic decision, the government had said it had sent out a strong message to those who indulge in corrupt practices.
Some candidates affected by the decision had then approached the KAT. The tribunal directed the government to sift through the 362 candidates and appoint non-tainted candidates.
Jayachandra said appointment orders would be issued to all candidates.
Advocate-General Madhusudan Naik had in a recent report, based on the CID report, listed 46 candidates as tainted.
Contrary view
The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) had advised the Cabinet to appeal against the KAT order. The minister said the government would go ahead with the implementation of the Hota committee report to usher in reforms at KPSC.
Sources in the government said some senior ministers also urged Siddaramaiah to challenge the KAT order.
The ministers are apprehensive the Opposition will now claim victory, sources said.
DH News Service
Flip-flop since 2011
KPSC finalises list of 362 gazetted probationers
CID investigation finds large-scale irregularities
Govt scraps full list amid Opposition furore
Candidates approach KAT, which says restore list
‘Leave out tainted candidates’ is KAT’s caveat
Govt announces it will hire everyone on the list