KAS exam: Candidates move Tribunal alleging irregularities

Some candidates, who appeared for the preliminary examination for appointment to the Kerala Administrative Service (KAS), on Tuesday filed a plea before the Kerala Administrative Tribunal alleging serious irregularities in the selection process to the highest civil post under the state services.

In their plea, the candidates have sought directions from the tribunal to quash the selection process and initiate fresh proceedings in accordance with law for the selection.

The job aspirants alleged that manual valuation of 18,000 answer sheets by employees of the Kerala Public Service Commission resulted in favouritism, nepotism and political patronage in the selection conducted to the key post under the Government of Kerala Services.

They alleged that the time period granted for revaluation and obtaining copy of answer sheets was drastically reduced from 45 days to 15 days so as to eliminate and exclude meritorious candidates from approaching the Kerala Public Service Commission for revaluation and obtaining photocopy of the answer sheets.

Considering the plea, the Acting Chairman of the Tribunal, Benny Gervasis and member Rajesh Dewan directed the PSC to inform its stand on the matter by November 19.

The move came even as the KAS main examination is scheduled on November 20 and 21.

In a related development, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to file a statement in a plea seeking its intervention for a direction of a high level independent and impartial inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the selection process.