Kerala HC stays back door appointment steps

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed any fresh appointments through regularising those who have completed 10 years in Kerala's semi-government and similar government bodies.

In response to six petitions that came up for hearing before the court, the bench issued an order to this effect. The petitions were filed following widespread complaints and reports about the Pinarayi government's moves that came to be termed 'backdoor appointments' to bodies under the control of the government but outside the purview of the state Public Service Commission.

The government had been accused of taking steps for such appointments in haste before the announcement of election to the assembly

The court however clarified that the order will not apply to those who had already joined work based on postings already made. It will be applicable only for those posts for which procedures are currently on.

The court will have its next hearing on the matter on March 12.

Both the Congress-led opposition and the BJP have been making mass protests across the state protesting the Left government's action, focusing on the fact that the state PSC has not been making regular appointments as due for positions that are already vacant. This, they argued, only increased unemployment among the youth on the one hand, and on the other gifted jobs to employees from the Marxist party cadres.

For the past one month, the state secretariat has been witnessing massive protests organised by job-seekers who had been listed by the PSC, and whose rank lists were going to expire, or had recently expired, and aspirants for posts which have been given to the favoured lot through the backdoor appointments.