The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the decision to increase the number of candidates appearing for personality test for appointment to A and B category Gazetted Probationers in the KPSC exam from the existing 1:3 to 1:5.
Speaking to presspersons after the Cabinet meeting, T.B. Jayachandra, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, said the decision would allow more candidates from rural areas to get selected for the interview. “However, competition will increase because of this,” he said.
An amendment would be made to the notifications issued to facilitate new ratio in appointment he added.
It might be mentioned here that KPSC had violated the ratio in shortlisting the number of candidates for personality tests to the posts of Gazetted Probationers in 1998, 1999 and 2004 recruitment batches, which had led to a major controversy.
The KPSC had been pulled up over this violation by the Karnataka High Court.
It is significant that P.C. Hota Committee, which had been set up to recommend reforms to ensure accountability and better transparency in the recruitment process by the KPSC, had recommended a ratio of 1:3.
Cabinet gave the green signal to fill 1,811 vacant posts in prisons across the State.
The government has also approved appointments in the department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said Mr. Jayachandra.
It has also been decided to start an engineering college in Talkal of Koppal district and ₹111.89-crore has been earmarked for this.
