Four seconds late to report vacancy to PSC; Nisha's fight bears fruit; appointed as LD Clerk

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cabinet meeting decided to appoint Nisha Balakrishnan, a resident of Kollam Chavara, who lost her chance for a job due to reporting a vacancy at midnight on the day of the expiry of the rank list, as LD Clerk in the local department. Proceedings are by virtue of Service Rule 39. The High Court had also ordered that the government can exercise its powers under the service rules to appoint Nisha.

Nisha was in the LD Clerk rank list of Ernakulam district which ended on March 31, 2018. Although the vacancy was reported from the Kochi Corporation office on March 28, it was reported to the PSC from the Office of the Director of Urban Affairs at 12 midnight on the 31st. PSC received the e-mail at 12 hours and 4 seconds. PSC denied Nisha the job on the grounds that the list expired at 12 midnight. Nisha who was unable to write another PSC exam as she was 35 years old, filed a complaint with the government. The investigation found that there was a serious failure to inform the vacancy to PSC before midnight on the 31st despite the fact that the vacancy was reported on the 28th. The government had rejected the report given by the Director of Urban Affairs whitewashing the officials.