THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme recently ordered that reserved category candidates who get higher ranks are entitled to get a seat in the general category. If this order gets properly implemented, it will bring an end to the reservation coups that have been going on for years in the appointments made by the PSC in Kerala. Although the general category is the category that includes those who come first in merit, candidates who get high marks from backward classes are being confined to the reserved category and not in the general category. This will reduce the opportunities available to those from the backward classes.

The PSC prepares the rank lists by determining cut off marks in the examination results. It also prepares a supplementary list to ensure adequate representation for reserved categories in appointments. If the first 100 candidates on a rank list get appointed, 50 of them belong to the general category. Candidates with high ranks are eligible for appointment in the general category no matter which category they belong to. Yet candidates from reserved categories are confined to reservation quota despite being eligible for appointment in the general category.

The PSC has been making appointments by taking 20 vacancies as one unit no matter how many vacancies are there in each category. The loophole to sabotage reservations lies here. If 100 persons are to be appointed, it will be taken as 5 units. Of these, ten out of 20 candidates will get appointments in the general category. The candidates coming from the reserved category will be confined to the reservation quota right from the appointment in the second unit. If 100 candidates are appointed in such a manner, several candidates, who are eligible for appointment in the general category, will find themselves appointed in the reservation category. In this way, the appointments in the reservation quota will be lost.

It has been alleged that similar reservation coups took place in the appointments in the Kerala Administrative Service (KAS).