Feud in Karnataka public service panel leaves Siddaramaiah peeved

An ugly spat within the prestigious Karnataka Public Service Commission(KPSC), whose decisions impact thousands of job seekers, has upset Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The clash between the KPSC chairman and its secretary has caused a vertical divide in the body. The Chief Minister wants the mess to end.

Informed sources say that Siddaramaiah is not convinced by the criteria followed by chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar in selecting the Head of the Legal Cell (HLC). An official with the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), of the rank of Principal Secretary, revealed the info to The Federal.

BJP govt appointee

It has not helped matters that Sahukar was appointed the chairman in April 2021 during the earlier BJP government. He joined the KPSC as a member in September 2019.

Apparently, the chairman and a few members wanted Latha Kumari, an IAS officer who is the KPSC secretary, to be transferred out. The CM has rejected the request.

Siddaramaiah has reportedly told the chairman that two secretaries of the KPSC have been transferred only recently.

Lingering conflict

The tug of war between the two top officials exploded recently when Latha Kumar refused to issue an appointment order to the HLC, saying the chairman did not follow the procedures while selecting him.

The post of HLC fell vacant after incumbent SH Hosagouder, a retired judge, resigned.

Enraged by the secretary’s decision not to issue an appointment order, Sahukar and six members resolved to boycott all meetings and not to sign any files (results and notifications) until the appointment order was issued.

CM upset

A peeved Siddaramaiah sought a written report on the row.

Backing Sahukar are members Vijaykumar Kuchanure, MB Heggannavar, Dr Shantha Hosamani, Dr H S Narendra, BV Geetha and Mustafa Hussein Sayyed Azeez.

Four other members – Dr Ronald Anil Fernandes, Girish, BP Prabhudev and Shakunthala Dundigoudar – have not reportedly sided with the chairman.

Notification row

Amid the uncertainty, the KPSC secretary withdrew the notification of November 15, 2023, for appointing an HLC and issued a fresh one on January 9 this year to recruit a new person.

The chairman and a few members declared that the secretary has no authority to question the decision of the commission. They held an emergency meeting without the secretary on January 9 and resolved to not accept the fresh notification.

But the meeting was deemed invalid as it was held without the presence of a secretary, according to the sources.

The Chief Minister is unhappy with the unseemly developments in the KPSC. In recent times, those seeking government jobs have held noisy protests in front of the KPSC office, embarrassing the government.

Jobs impacted

In the process, the results of several tests related to a few hundred posts are pending. The KPSC has halted around 2,000 recruitments in the Karnataka government.

These include recruitments for assistant executive engineers, assistant engineers, junior engineers and more than 10 different categories of junior training officers among others.

The discord within the commission has left thousands of job aspirants in a state of uncertainty.