Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday has put the Public Service Commission (PSC) under sharp scrutiny over the failure to evaluate answers carrying 58 marks in a State Planning Board recruitment examination, asking whether the serious lapse amounted to blatant corruption and whether there should not be a mechanism to investigate alleged crimes committed within the constitutional recruitment body.
The strong observations came while hearing the PSC’s challenge to the Crime Branch investigation into the examination irregularities.
The court questioned how answers carrying 58 marks could simply be left unevaluated and said the allegation was extremely serious.
The PSC is the institution on which lakhs of job aspirants depend, the court observed, stressing that its credibility and the hopes of the younger generation must be protected.
The government opposed the PSC’s contention that the lapse was only a clerical or technical error.
“Leaving 58 marks unevaluated cannot be justified as a clerical mistake,” the government counsel argued.
The lapse was the result of a sophisticated manipulation and could not be explained away as an ordinary administrative error, the government contended.
The government also informed the court that more than 150 complaints had been raised against the PSC and that the PSC Chairman and members were not cooperating with the investigation.
The court questioned why officials had failed to appear before the investigating team despite being served notices.
The court said PSC officials had a moral responsibility to appear before the investigators.
If they continued to remain absent despite notices, the government should consider stringent action, it said.
The controversy assumes added significance as the present PSC consists of a Chairman and 15 members, all appointed during the previous Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government.
Under the Constitution, the Chairman and members of a State PSC hold office for six years or until they attain 62 years, whichever is earlier.
The Planning Board recruitment that triggered the controversy was also initiated during the Vijayan government.
The notification for the senior post was issued in 2022, and the examination was held in July 2023.
The examination was conducted for three Chief-level posts in the Planning Board.
Ten questions in the common first paper, carrying 58 marks, were not evaluated.
The irregularity affected all 228 candidates who appeared for the examination, according to the investigation.
Rank lists were subsequently published, and appointments were made to two posts.
The Crime Branch is now examining whether the evaluation failure was a mere error or whether it was deliberate and intended to benefit particular candidates.
The PSC has approached the High Court seeking to quash the criminal proceedings, maintaining that the lapse was inadvertent and challenging the government’s prosecution sanction.
(IANS)
