The cabinet also decided to replace the current practice of directly nominating members with a more transparent process. A search committee, led by the Chief Secretary, will now be responsible for selecting the members of the commission.
Published Mar 15, 2025 | 1:49 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 15, 2025 | 1:49 PM
KPSC logo. (Supplied)
Synopsis: The Karnataka state cabinet is considering reforms to the KPSC, including reducing its members from 15 to 8 and introducing a transparent selection process led by the Chief Secretary. These changes align with recommendations from TM Vijaybhaskar’s 2023 report and court rulings.
In a bid to address the growing concerns over corruption and lack of transparency in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), the state cabinet has shown an inclination to bring significant reforms, including reducing the number of members from 15 to 8, including the chairman.
The cabinet also decided to replace the current practice of directly nominating members with a more transparent process. A search committee, led by the Chief Secretary, will now be responsible for selecting the members of the commission.
This reform is based on the recommendations made by TM Vijaybhaskar in his 2023 Administrative Reforms Report. Bhaskar’s report highlighted the difficulty in maintaining confidentiality when there are too many members in the commission. He also pointed out that the absence of interviews for Group B and C jobs has reduced the burden on commission members, making it feasible to operate with a smaller team.
The report further recommended a reduction in the number of members to streamline operations and ensure efficiency.
This move aligns with previous rulings by the Karnataka High Court in 2016 and the Supreme Court in 2018, which had directed the formation of a select committee to appoint eligible individuals to the positions of Chairman and members of the KPSC.
With these changes, the state government aims to enhance the transparency and integrity of the commission while ensuring a more streamlined process for recruitment and selection.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah speaking on retest for KPSC has said that he can’t decide on the retest as the case is pending with Karnataka Appellate Tribunal. Noting that he will discuss options with KPSC, Siddaramaiah said, “If Karnataka Appellate Tribunal says yes to the retest, the Government will go ahead with it.”
On 27 August, the Gazetted Probationers’ exam was held to recruit 350 probationary officers for gazetted positions in Karnataka. Numerous candidates and writers criticised the Commission for potentially relying on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools or Google translate, leading to problematic translations and various errors in the question paper. Many candidates found some questions to be incomprehensible as a result.
Student organisations, lecturers, and coaching centres discovered errors in more than 50 questions spread across Paper 1 and Paper 2. They struggled due to mistakes in translation and factual inaccuracies. The Karnataka State Competitive Examination Aspirants’ Association contended that 58 questions were significantly flawed, due to which 116 marks were unfairly distributed.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Rashmi)
