Employees taking leave for KAS exam leaves dept in quandary

Thiruvananthapuram: General administration department has sought the intervention of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to cancel the leave of more than 50 secretariat employees who availed it to prepare for the first Kerala Administrative Service (

KAS

) examination to be held on February 22.

A note by principal secretary (GAD)

K R Jyothilal

said that several employees going on leave to prepare for the examination has affected the functioning of the secretariat, especially when the budget session of the assembly is all set to begin from January 31. The note also said that if those employees who are on leave are appearing for the examination, they should be disqualified.

The note also said that ignoring the duties while on service and preparing for another examination shows their lack of social commitment. “The trend of bettering their own career by ignoring the services to be offered to the public should be discouraged,” the note said. More than 50 employees have availed various types of leave including earned leave and leave without pay, citing multiple reasons. Secretariat sources said that though the leave does not mention anything about the examination, many of them have availed the leave for preparation.

More than four lakh applicants are appearing for the KAS preliminary examination, including several employees from the secretariat. KAS has reservation for those in the government service as well, in addition to general category. Meanwhile, the note by the general administration department secretary has not gone well with the employees’ organizations. “The matters mentioned in the note itself is unwarranted. In KAS, two streams are reserved for government employees. So, how can they be disqualified if they appear for the examination conducted by the public service commission, just because they availed leave? Also, it cannot be said that all those who have availed leave have availed it for exam preparation. The leaves for which they are eligible have been sanctioned by their superior authorities,” general secretary of pro-left Kerala secretariat employees’ association K N Ashok Kumar said.

It is learnt that the chief minister’s office have declined the demand.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.