THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Months after the expiry of the first rank list in the Kerala Administrative Service (KAS), the government has reported 54 new vacancies. The vacancy was reported on February 23 after the existing list's expiration on October 7.

The government updated the court about the fresh vacancies reported, during the hearing of the contempt petition filed after the order of the Administrative Tribunal to find and report the vacancies before the expiry of the rank list. 27 vacancies that were identified as per KAS Special Rules, 11 vacancies of Administrative Officer Grade II, 5 vacancies of Deputy Collectors, and 11 vacancies of District Education Officers were provisionally reported. Due to the expiry of the existing list, the appointment will be made for the new vacancy only after the publication of the new notification and conducting of the examination.

At the same time, complaints have been raised against not even one Scheduled Caste member being included in the first batch of KAS. When a total of 105 persons were appointed, the scheduled caste representation was eliminated as three streams of 35 persons were appointed each. If 105 people were appointed together, 2 candidates from the Scheduled Castes category would have been appointed. The report of the committee chaired by Chief Secretary VP Joy to find out the anomaly in the special rules and suggest a solution is also yet to come out.

Training of the first batch to end on June 30

The 18-month training of the first batch selected for the post of KAS will end on June 30. The syllabus is based on the training given at Mussoorie IAS Academy. Out of 105 people, one person cleared the civil service exam and now there are 104 people in the batch.