The announcement by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday about launch of a large-scale recruitment drive by the State government shortly runs parallel to another major development in the Constitutional body that conducts exams for recruitment to State services.
The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC), which took office on December 17, 2014, with a chairman and three members, will lose all of them on the same day this week, owing to retirement on completion of their six-year term. As per Article 316 of the Constitution, the outgoing chairman cannot be reappointed to the post while any member could be elevated as chairman but not retain the post in the same State.
In this background, there was hectic lobbying for the post of chairman and members of the commission in the past few months. Mr. KCR, however, has not made up his mind, although sources said he was keen on retired IAS and IPS officers to head the organisation for a year or two.
The chairman and members of the commissions retired at the age of 62 years or completion of six years in the post, whichever was earlier. So, Mr. KCR wanted civil servants, who would have retired at the age of 60 years to take over as chairman for one or two years as a stop-gap until a full fledged commission was constituted with new members, sources added.
When the incumbent chairman Ghanta Chakrapani and three members C. Vittal, Chandravati and Mateenuddin Quadri demit office on December 17, there will be only two members left in the commission — Krishna Reddy and Prof. Sailu.
Mr. Reddy was due for retirement in February while Prof. Sailu will complete term in October.
In the eleven-member commission, five members have already retired and the chairman and three other members will follow suit this week. With just two members left, it was imperative that the government filled up the vacancies. Otherwise, it will become unmanageable to issue job notifications or hold interviews with only two members and adherence to quorum norms in commission meetings.
Sources added that there was immediate need for appointment of chairman and at least five members for a proper and efficient functioning of the commission. The outgoing panel submitted its annual report to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan last week. It said the panel completed recruitment to 35,724 posts through 115 recruitment exams. It issued 108 recruitment notifications and 41 other departmental notifications.
