MP, Candidates Find PSCs Wordings inappropriate

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Normally, one would be elated to get an ‘advice of appointment’from the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC). But the last thing one would expect from the PSC is gestures which do not suit the dignity of a Constitutional body. Stuck in the colonial mindset of hire and fire, the PSC still uses wordings such as ‘’if and when you are thrown out of appointment on the termination....’’ Soumya S R, a higher secondary school teacher appointee, got the ‘advice of appointment’ from the PSC recently. When she approached the local MP Shashi Tharoor in connection with an individual  matter, he noticed the embarrassing wordings of the ‘advice of appointment.’ Really hurtful to any appointee, the MP brought the matter to the notice of the PSC Secretary. Shashi Tharoor, who is also an acclaimed writer, pointed out that ‘’if and when you are thrown out of appointment on the termination....’’ is quite ‘’inappropriate.’’ ‘’The text of the aforesaid letter would be routine in most such letters. But it does appear demeaning to the thousands of successful candidates, as well as to the appointing institution, the government, which by all reason, should be portrayed as a model employer. It could have been better worded, perhaps, something like: ‘if the appointment is canceled in future on the termination...,’’’ Tharoor said. However, according to the MP’s office, the PSC’s response was not satisfactory. It was insolently worded and simply passed the buck to a government order issued in the past, it said. But, PSC Secretary P C Binoy has a different take to offer.  He told ‘Express’ that the PSC had responded politely to the MP and sought his suggestion saying that the PSC would be happy to incorporate a better word if he could offer. However, the MP did not respond to this reply, he said. Binoy said that it might be because of a general tendency to think in one’s own mother tongue that the words appeared as demeaning.  When pointed out that it was the MP, who is also a well-known writer, who felt it as demeaning, the PSC Secretary said that it was in fact a wording  chosen from a government order by P and ARD issued in the 60s.