Kerala Youth Congress continue stir, demand extension of PSC rank list

Youth Congress workers on Monday continued their protest in front of the secretariat here demanding that the validity of the Last Grade PSC (Public Service Commission) rank list published in 2017 be extended by six more months.

Several youths have been protesting in front of the state secretariat since January 26 to press the demand.

Youth congress workers also staged protests in other parts of the state and at some places, the protest became violent forcing the police to use water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief minister Oommen Chandy met the protesters and said his party will see whether any legal assistance could be made available for the agitating youths.

Youth League workers and Muslim Students Federation workers too protested in front of the secretariat and tried to scale the fence of the complex resulting in a minor scuffle between the activists and police, police said.

Meanwhile, the special cabinet which met on Monday did not take up the matter of agitating PSC rank holders but decided to make permanent 151 staff members in various departments who were employed by the state government for more than ten years.

The Congress had earlier alleged that there were backdoor appointments in various government departments in Kerala in the guise of making permanent some of the staff.

The state government in a release said those who were made permanent are in those posts where appointments cannot be made through PSC or are not left to the Public Service Commission.

The BJP also issued a statement against the state government, saying the cabinet refusing to discuss the protests shows the "arrogant attitude" of the government towards the youth.

The cabinet meeting also decided to create 140 new posts including 115 teacher posts in the Wayanad Medical college, which will start its operation soon.

"The cabinet also decided to create 55 new posts in the Kerala Coir Workers Welfare Fund Board, six entry cadre posts in Malabar devaswom and 60 posts in Advocate General office," the state government said in a release.