HC steps in to plug loopholes in KPSC selection process

In an effort to plug long-debated loopholes in the Karnataka Public Service Commission’s selection process, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed KPSC to follow the recommendations of the P.C. Hota Committee report in conducting personality tests for selecting candidates.

A Division Bench said that the panels’ recommendations would be the norms for personality tests, till the existing norms are amended.

‘Piecemeal measures’

Having constituted the committee to “plug the mischief” within the KPSC, the Bench observed that the government now should accept its recommendations and implement them at the earliest, while terming the actions taken so far by the government as “piecemeal” measures.

The committee recommended that each interview board in the KPSC be presided over by the chairman or by a senior member and must have four advisers, preferably drawn from outside Karnataka. The report had also suggested norms for selecting advisers for the interview board.

The committee said that the chairman and advisers will have to award marks separately for a candidate and the average of their marks have to be considered.

Instead of 25 candidates per day for the personality tests, the KPSC can call only nine candidates a day, the report said.