Bunching of job notifications by the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) is reported to have upset the functioning of its offices and caused great hardships to applicants.
Commission sources told The Hindu here that notifications for 236 posts which were in great demand among job-seekers were issued in a gap of five days in December. As many as 76 posts were notified on December 26 and 160 posts on December 31. This included the notifications for posts such as secretariat assistant, municipal secretary, block panchayat secretary, assistant motor vehicle inspector, overseer grade III, and a host of such others which usually draw heavy response from candidates.
For instance, the commission would get about two-lakh applications for the secretariat assistant’s post alone. As many as 236 notifications were issued against the 546 posts notified over a period of 11 months, till November last.
Limited server capacity
Though uploading of notifications commenced on December 26 and 31 itself, the process could be completed only by Thursday. The last date for submitting online applications for the posts notified on December 26 was set on January 28 and those on December 31 was fixed on February 4.
Even after switching over to online recruitment and introducing a one-time profile and qualification registration system for candidates, the capacity of the server had not been raised to meet the heavy increase in workload. Even a minor glitch would derail the entire system, sources said.
For instance, while the commission employees were verifying the credentials of candidates who had applied for the posts of lower division clerk and staff nurse under the Directorate of Medical Education from all the 14 districts, applicants were also attempting to access the new notifications, place applications, and correct and update their profiles.
Unable to bear the heavy traffic, the network reportedly got jammed. Candidates too were unable to access the site.
The commission could have avoided the trouble by staggering the notifications and also by enhancing the capacity of the server, but such issues had not been seriously addressed, sources said.
