The Public Service Commission has decided to repeal the decision mandating Diploma in Computer Application (DCA) an essential qualification for the Secretariat assistant’s post. Commission sources told The Hindu here on Monday that the decision making DCA an essential qualification was issued through an executive order in 2011. Though the order said that amendments would be made in the special rules for including DCA, no steps had been taken so far. The State Administrative Tribunal had also said that the rules should be amended to include a new qualification for the post. Earlier, graduation was the minimum qualification for the post. Then, it was said that applicants should have at least 50 per cent marks in the qualifying examinations.
In the wake of the latest decision, the changes in the qualification would not be valid anymore. Earlier, the government had urged the commission to give more time to the applicants to acquire the DCA certificate. After a flood of requests, the government said the applicants should be given time to acquire the qualification till the commission verified the certificates.
As per norms, the commission can consider only the qualifications acquired by a candidate at the time of notification. The notification for the post will be issued on Tuesday.