The Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) on Wednesday asked the State government to respond to a petition challenging the government decision to include Administration and Finance Departments of the Secretariat in the newly proposed Kerala Administrative Service.
The petition was filed by the Kerala Secretariat Association, Kerala Finance Secretariat Association, and four officers working in the secretariat department. The petitioners contended that the various committees appointed to study the feasibility of constitution of a State Civil Service had never recommended secretariat service and the staff in the State civil service. In the wake of opposition from the Secretariat employees, the government had later clarified while approving the recommendations of the committee that no decision had been taken to include the Secretariat service in the civil service.
Without consideration
The petitioners said that the order including the Secretariat service in the civil service was issued without considering any of the reports of the committees. Besides, the government had already constituted the Administrative Reforms Commission with a view to improve the State administrative system and review the structure and functioning of the administrative machinery. It was issued without proper consideration of the reports submitted by the committees and without consulting the Administrative Reforms Commission.
