High school Malayalam teacher appointment; Government succumbs to Supreme Court order

The stand taken by the Supreme Court in Wayanad's high school Malayalam teacher appointment was a heavy blow to the government's action of constantly tormenting the candidates waiting for the PSC exam appointment and deliberately delaying the decisions to be taken on time. The Principal Secretary of the Department of General Education may have been scared by the court's warning and ordered the immediate appointment of the four complainants.

Supreme Court Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma had warned that people including Principal Secretary Rani George would have to go to jail if the directive was not implemented. P Avinash, Rali PR, Johnson EV and Shima M were recommended for appointment. The Principal Secretary has clarified that the order is being issued in accordance with the judgment of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court also clarified that the appointment order of these four persons in the PSC list should be given before the case is re-considered on the 10th of this month. Four persons, including Avinash, who was included in the HSA Malayalam rank list, which came into force in 2017, approached the High Court against the fact that some people in the expired rank list had influenced the officials of the Education Department to gain appointment. They approached the Supreme Court as they did not receive justice from the High Court. After a four-year legal battle, in October 2023, the Supreme Court ordered that all four of them be admitted to work within a month. However, they filed a contempt of court petition since they still did not get the job. Supreme Court has asked them to be appointed immediately after rejecting the review petition filed by the government

There are regular lapses in finding vacancies in PSC rank lists and making timely appointments. Protesting in front of the secretariat while waiting for an appointment from the rank list has become a regular sight. Common sense alone is enough to understand that this is happening because of backdoor recruitment. Those who study hard and get into the rank list have to wait for a long time for a job. Eventually, the list expires and one has to watch helplessly as the age limit passes. PSC appointments should be made more efficient in our state where there are many educated people. Is the government thinking that the youth should take to the streets and protest? The government should try not to fall short in making timely decisions.

Urgent intervention is required to check the status of existing rank lists in the state and to fill up the vacancies. There is a valuable lesson in this matter that those who should manage things prudently should not become unwise.