That circuitous process called govt job recruitments by KPSC

The Karnataka Public Services Commission (KPSC), the nodal body for employing people to state government jobs which bears the infamy of delayed recruitments, has shot off a letter to the government, seeking a list of projected vacancies for the next five years in a bid to ensure annual recruitments.

KPSC’s recruitment process thus far has been irregular, even though norms mandate annual recruitment.

Sample this: The last notification for gazetted probationers’ posts was in January 2020.

The preliminary exam for this was held in August 2020, the mains in February 2021 and the final selection took place only in September 2022 - stretching up to a full two years.

KPSC secretary Suralkar Vikas Kishore has written to the department of personnel & administrative reforms (DPAR), pointing out that the Commission is unable to conduct annual recruitment as there is a delay on the part of the government in updating on vacancies.

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“The government departments forward information about vacancies to the DPAR, which is then sent to the chief secretary, who compiles the final list and sends it to the Commission. As a result, there is a delay at various levels,” Suralkar stated in his letter, a copy of which is available with DH.

The official told DH that the government could compile the list of vacancies by making use of the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) data.

If the Commission has this five-year list, it will be able to plan for annual recruitments, he said.

Court cases

“As the recruitment is not done on time, aspirants try to find the smallest error and approach courts as they do not know when they will get the next opportunity to apply for government jobs. If there are annual recruitments, there will be less pressure on the system and the aspirants,” he explained.

Currently, there are 671 pending cases in the court pertaining to various exams conducted by the Commission.

As per the Karnataka Recruitment of Gazetted Probationers (Appointment by Competitive Examinations) Rules 1997, the government has to release an annual list of vacancies and conduct recruitment to posts by the year end and complete the entire process within one year from the date of notification.

Staff shortage

Detailing the challenges, the KPSC secretary highlighted in his letter that the Commission is crippled by staff shortage.

There are only 330 sanctioned posts, whereas the requirement is for at least 1,000, Suralkar said.

It also has only one controller of exams who manages paper setting, evaluation and list preparation.

An inadequately equipped joint controller’s post has been created, but is not filled.

“We need at least two more controllers of exams along with joint controllers who can monitor different categories of exams,” the official said.