Illegal appointment in food security department; 12 backdoor appointments in a week after accepting lakhs as bribe

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even after the government had asserted that appointments on vacancies in various departments will be through PSC, backdoor appointments are rampant in the state. Twelve people were appointed in the department through backdoor in a week after paying lakhs as bribe. A lobby led by service organisation leader of the food security commissionerate is behind this.

The appointment after accepting bribe was without the knowledge of the minister or the government and without reporting to the employment exchange or PSC. Reports that come in asserted that similar appointments were made in the post of part-time sweeper in Thiruvananthapuram district office and Kattakada food security office yesterday.

About a dozen people were given backdoor appointments at the food security department offices in Nemom, Kattakada and Aruvikkara constituencies in the last two weeks. The appointments were in the post of part-time sweeper, lab assistant and computer operator. Wife of driver of the mobile lab of the food safety department was appointed as part-time sweeper in the district food safety office yesterday.

All these appointments were without the knowledge of the food safety commissioner, the government or Thiruvananthapuram district employment officer. There are more temporary staffs than permanent employees in the department of food safety. There are attempts to appoint nine lab assistants at the analytical lab through backdoor following absence of complaints or objections against the appointments to various food safety offices in the district.

Apart from Thiruvananthapuram, groundworks are underway for such temporary appointments in other districts. There are more than 100 vacancies in various posts in 14 districts. In the last days of the previous government, the government had assured that action would be taken to report vacancies in a timely manner and to fill the vacancies through PSC during the strike staged in front of secretariat by those in the rank list for various posts. At a time when hundreds of educated people are job hunting, this type of illegal appointments are seen.