Vijayan denies any 'backdoor' appointments during his rule

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 10 With a series of protests launched by various youth wings of opposition parties after reports of numerous "backdoor" appointments being made by Kerala's LDF government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that they have not done any wrong and the opposition is misleading the youths on this issue.

His statement came at a time when angry youths attached to the youth wing of the Congress and the BJP clashed with the police during their protest in front of the state Secretariat here on Wednesday. On a few occasions, the police was seen battling it out with some who managed to sneak into the compound.

Interacting with the media, Vijayan said that his appeal to the youths is not to be misled by vested interests who are out to create unrest over a non-issue.

"We, the Left government, have done no wrong and we have always followed the rules, unlike the previous Congress-led UDF government, who have violated every norm when appointments were done. My appeal to them is we are only doing according to law and with humanitarian considerations," he said.

Over the past one week, youths have been demanding speedy appointments to the list published by the Public Service Commission (PSC) and also reports of numerous backdoor appointments being done in a jiffy ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

"I will explain... according to the PSC rules, when they come out with a rank list, they bring out a list which will have five times the actual number of vacancies. This means that if there are 20 vacancies, they come out with a list of 100 and hence there will be more number of people who will lose out than who get the jobs," said Vijayan.

On the allegation of backdoor appointments, he said no one has been given a permanent job where the recruitment is done by the PSC.

"Appointments have been done by organisations, where the recruitment is not done by the PSC and here the norm is anyone who completes 10 years become eligible for permanent employment and there are cases where people who have completed 20 years. This 10 year norm clearly means that not a single person who got a job after this Left government came to power (in May 2016), has been made permanent," he contended.

Vijayan said that his tenure saw 44,000 new posts being created of which 27,000 were permanent ones.

"Till January this year from when we assumed office 1,57,911 people have got jobs through the PSC. During this period, 4,012 PSC rank lists were published and in comparison during the previous Congress government, only 3,113 were published," he added.

Vijayan said as on date, there are 5,28,231 state government employees and the maximum permanent new jobs in a year will be around 25,000.

"The Congress government, when making appointments, did not follow any norm and all of you know that also. In their previous tenure (2011-16) 5,910 were given permanent appointments through the backdoor, while we ensure all norms are followed. With this being the truth, the youths should trust us that we will do no wrong and we assure all that they are not against any," he added.

The Congress party has been going hammer and tongs against Vijayan. Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, who is on a statewide yatra, on Wednesday alleged tya over three lakh backdoor appointments were done under Vijayan.

Senior BJP leader P.K. Krishnadas demanded a white paper on all the appointments made during Vijayan's tenure.

( With inputs from IANS )