Karnataka: Rules eased to recruit teachers

BENGALURU: The Karnataka cabinet has relaxed the maximum age limit by two years to recruit school teachers. The cabinet also reduced the minimum marks a candidate needed to score in recruitment exams to be eligible for employment from 60% to 50%.
The government, at a cabinet meeting on Friday, relaxed the maximum age limit by two years and reduced the minimum cut-off percentage of marks by 10% to recruit schoolteachers. The cabinet ap p rove d a d e c i s i o n to amend the Karnataka Education Department Services (Appointment) Rules, 2022 to bring these changes into effect.
JC Madhuswamy, law and parliamentary affairs minister, told reporters that as per the new rules, the maximum age limit for candidates belonging to Category-1, SC/ST and physically disabled quotas will be 47 years. For Category-2, 2A and 2B, it will be 45 years, while it will be 42 years for candidates from the general category.
The decision to relax the age limit was taken as both government and aided schools have not recruited teachers for the past two years due to the pandemic besides other reasons. As a result, several candidates have crossed the earlier prescribed age limit. “The government has taken this decision to help them,” said BV Nagesh, primary and secondary education minister
The cabinet also reduced the minimum marks a candidate needed to score in recruitment exams to be eligible for employment from 60% to 50%. It was pointed out that the last time exams were conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission, many candidates were not recruited despite there being vacancies as they had not obtained the minimum cut-off marks
“The government is also considering a further reduction in cut-off marks if vacancies outnumber eligible candidates,” said Madhuswamy.
The cabinet also set up a committee headed by Muniratna, minister of planning, monitoring, and statistics, to review the recommendations of the Nanjundappa Committee, which was formed by the SM Krishna government to address regional imbalances.
The committee will discuss the status of backward taluks, including 56 newly formed taluks, and make fresh recommendations. The new committee was formed as the tenure of the Nanjundappa committee had ended.
Reservation for OBCs
The cabinet also accepted the Justice K Bhaktavatsala Commission’s recommendations to provide political reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in urban local bodies.
In its report, which was submitted to chief minister Basavaraj Bommai recently, the two-member commission had recommended 33% reservation for OBCs in urban and local bodies
In one of four key suggestions, the commission recommended that the government amend section 10 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, which pertains to the term of office of mayor and deputy mayor.
It recommended that it be increased from the current 12 months to 30 months, as provided in the case of mayor and deputy mayor of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), under the BBMP Act, 2020.