The names of academicians and civil servants are doing the rounds for the post of Chairman of the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).
According to sources in political and government circles, the names being heard are of Syed Akheel Ahmed, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Mysore; Bangalore Development Authority Commissioner T. Sham Bhat; the former Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath; Chief Minister’s Secretary K.R. Srinivas; Dalit writer H. Govindaiah, and Political Science professor, University of Mysore, Muzaffar Assadi.
The tenure of the chairman is for six years or till he turns 65 years, whichever is earlier. The post of the KPSC chairman has remained vacant after the previous chairman Gonal Bimappa’s term ended last year.
The State Cabinet has authorised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to select the candidate for the post.
Mr. Siddaramaiah has been looking for a well-qualified candidate with an unblemished track record and integrity to restore the reputation of the government’s premier recruitment agency, an official in the Chief Minister’s office said.
In the wake of charges of corruption against KPSC members in recruitment, the new Chairman’s task would be roll out a new set of reforms and bring in transparency.
The KPSC was in the centre of a controversy following charges of corruption against members in the recruitment of gazetted probationary officers for the 2011 batch.
The government scrapped the selection list of the 2011 batch forwarded by the KPSC, leading to a furore.
The immediate role of the new Chairman would be to fill 452 Group A and B gazetted probationers’ posts in 2014 or 2015.
