Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed that a nodal officer be appointed in all departments to prepare annual reports about the presence of those in the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) categories in government service and to complete the appointment procedures in reserved posts.
A press note issued here on Wednesday said he was speaking at a review meeting on ensuring adequate representation in government service of those in the SC/ST categories. After appointing the nodal officer, each department should make it known to the Secretary, General Administration, within a week.
Appointments of ST candidates to certain posts is not possible due to the shortage of qualified people. A high-power committee set up to study this issue should submit, in a month, an interim report on what measures could be taken to solve the problem, he said.
Any lapse in reviewing the presence of those from the scheduled categories in government service would be viewed seriously. As a follow-up, the respective secretaries should convene meetings to keep track of the issue. Secretaries should intervene personally to inspect existing vacancies and act to do away with delays in appointments.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) Secretary should examine the remaining appointments to be made to posts reported to the commission, the reasons for delay in appointment, and the time within which such appointments could be made and should bring the same to the attention of the commission. Action should be taken at the level of the Chief Secretary to ensure that this happened, the Chief Minister said.
Extra care needed to be taken on the utilisation of Plan funds for the backward sections, minorities and the differently-abled. The delay in giving administrative sanction for projects and schemes should not impact the utilisation of Plan funds. Departments that are yet to give administrative sanction to such projects should explain the reasons for the delay, the Chief Minister said.
Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand was among those who participated in the meeting.
