Opposition UDF stages walkout in Kerala assembly over alleged backdoor appointments

The OppositionCongress-led UDF on Tuesday lashed out at the LDF governmentin the Kerala Assembly over the alleged backdoor appointmentsand attempts to make permanent the contract staff en masse invarious state-run institutions and later staged a walkout eventhough Chief Minister Pinarayi VIjayan denied the charges.

The opposition claimed the governmenthad madedouble the number of temporary appointments than the totalnumber of recruitment by the state Public Service Commission(PSC), the apex recruitment agency in the southern state.

They also released a letter written by the stateFilm Academy Chairman, Kamal to Cultural Affairs Minister, A KBalan reportedly requesting that contract employees havingleaning towards Marxist ideology in the institution be madepermanent to maintain the Left leaning nature of theinstitution.

Rejecting the charges raised in the adjournmentmotion, the Chief Minister, however, said the opposition wastrying to create a smokescreen on the government appointments.

The Left government had taken a firm stand that allappointments should be made in a transparent manner withoutany corruption.

''Steps are being taken to report as many vacanciesas possible to the PSC, the constitutional body, and therebymake appointments,'' Vijayan told the Assembly.

According to the latest available data, 1,51,513persons have been given either appointment or issued advisorymemo through the PSC, he said.

Listing details of appointments in variousgovernment institutions, he said 27,000 permanent vacancies invarious government institutions had been created after theLeft front government came to power.

This includes 5,985 new vacancies and appointmentsin the health and social justice department, 4,933appointments in police departments, 721 in the highereducation sector and so on, he said.

Stating that making permanent those persons whohave worked in an institution for decades was a 'humanitarianconsideration', the chief minister said they were not part ofany particular political front and the previous UDF governmentalso did the same thing.

Moving the motion, Shafi Parambil (Congress) allegedKerala had become the graveyard of PSC rank lists and the'Public Service Commission had become the 'party servicecommission'.

Alleging thatover one lakhpeople had beenappointed through the backdoor by the LDF government andotheragencies,Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala toldreporters outside the House that the appointments had beenmade in at least 42 PSUs, besides government andsemi-government institutions.

These appointments have been made even as thegovernment's term is almost over, thus cheating the joblessPSC (Public Service Commission ) rank holders, Chennithalaclaimed.

When this government came to power, it hadpromised five lakh jobs in a year,he said, alleging now theyare cheating people.PTILGK BN WELCOME WELCOME