A Secretary-level committee appointed by the government has mooted the formation of a Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) with the retirement age at 58 years.
A six-member committee headed by Chief Secretary E.K. Bharat Bhushan, which explored the possibilities of forming the cadre, has recommended to include 18 departments in it.
The second gazetted posts in the departments would be declared as equivalent to the post of Deputy Collector and designated as Kerala Administrative Service. The KAS will infuse young blood and experience through lateral recruitment and merit-based selection from among the existing employees.
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All reservation norms will be applicable to direct recruits. The first gazetted posts in the departments may be included in the Deputy Collector category.
It has also been proposed to fill the vacancies through transfer from among the first gazetted posts on the basis of an examination of the Public Service Commission (PSC) on a 1:1 ratio.
The age limit for direct recruits has been proposed at 21 to 28 years and the qualification is graduation. The test will be conducted once in two years. A one-time special recruitment drive has been proposed for filling up the existing vacancies in the State Civil Service (SCS) quota in the Indian Administrative Service.
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Agriculture, Sales Tax, Civil Supplies, Cooperation, Industries, Labour, Land Revenue, Municipal Administration, Panchayat, Registration, Rural Development, Scheduled Class Development, Scheduled Tribes Development, Social Justice, Survey and Land Records, Tourism, Treasuries, and General Education (DPI) have been proposed to included in the cadre.
Shortage of officers in SCS category is what prompted the government to think of the cadre.
At present, only 20 per cent of the 110 posts of Deputy Collectors, that is 22 posts, are reserved for direct recruits and the remaining are filled through promotion. Direct recruitment vacancies arise only when the existing officers retire or they are inducted into the IAS cadre. Recruitment to the post was made only four times in the past 50 years.
Additional chargeOwing to the shortage of qualified hands, SCS category officers are immediately promoted to IAS cadre on their completing eight years of service and now many officers are holding more than one additional charge.
The new cadre is expected to be a panacea to such problems.