THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is indicated that the notification of the second batch of Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) may be released by November. Many candidates are waiting for this.

It was agreed to start the process for the appointment of the next batch of KAS in the meeting of department secretaries chaired by the chief secretary two weeks ago. The first notification was on November 1, 2019. 105 people were appointed in 29 posts in October 2021. The KAS special rule states that the notification should be published once in two years. The second notification was supposed to come out in 2021 according to this. It could not be fulfilled as posts could not be found.

As the entrants to KAS remain in the cadre post for eight years, there are few new vacancies. To solve this, 31 posts (30 percent) out of the cadre strength of 105 from the second batch will be reserved for state deputation on the IAS model.

The practice of the Center making appointments in the posts falling vacant when officers go on deputation will be implemented in KAS as well. KAS special rule will be amended for this purpose. It was decided in the meeting of secretaries convened by the Chief Secretary to find deputation in all departments. The Chief Secretary directed that the department secretaries should forward the information about the deputation posts, qualifications required for that post, pay scale and whether the posts are permanent or temporary to the Public Administration Department within two weeks.

Slow processing of departments

In the meeting, Chief Secretary Dr V Venu accused the departments of failing to find and notify the posts. Additional Chief Secretary Public Administration said in the meeting that not only the vacancies were not reported by the department, but they also said that many of the reported posts could not be provided to KAS. Out of the four who were deputed to KSRTC, one returned to the cadre post. The other three have applied to return.