Changes may be introduced in KPSC Interview process

The State Government has decided to bring some changes in the interview process of KAS officers conducted by Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC). In the coming days, KPSC will conduct interview of KAS officers as per the recommendations of the Hota Committee. KPSC will follow Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) model.

The State Cabinet held a meeting recently and decided to introduce the following changes:

• There will be two KPSC members and two Subject Experts in the panel of interviewers

• Candidates will be selected based on the average marks given by the above mentioned members

• The interviews will be conducted on 1:3 ratio (three candidates to be interviewed for one post)

• These steps are expected to help the meritorious candidates who write Gazetted Probationers' exam and attend viva

• Each candidate will be interviewed or tested for 25 to 30 minutes

• Unlike previous interviews, only 9 candidates will be interviewed per day

• A written notification will be sent to a candidate to attend Personality Test

• A lottery-type system will be used to decide which panel will interview which candidate

The Law Minister T B Jayachandra said that the panel of KPSC interviewers will comprise members chosen on the basis of merit and these members will know Kannada language. He also said that following the UPSC model for interviewing candidates will help in maintaining transparency.

Many candidates are still waiting for their interview which was mentioned in the 2015 notification. The aforementioned changes will be introduced from the current year itself. However, it is still not known when KPSC is sending notification for the appointment of the Gazetted Probationaries.

The sources have confirmed that the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) has prepared a list of candidates for 417 posts (Group A and B) of Gazetted Probationers, out of which 74 posts are reserved for Hyderabad-Karnataka area.

• The new list will include the following points,

• 66 Tehasildars (Grade II) for Revenue Department

• 30 KAS (Junior Level) officers in DPAR

• 65 Assistant Commissioners in Department of Commercial Tax

• 100 posts of Commercial Tax officers

The following functions need to be carried out by State Government and KPSC as per a time table that is getting ready,

• every year, it has to send a proposal regarding gazetted probationary appointment

• the notification for KAS preliminary exams should be released in February and the exams should be conducted in May

• the mains should be conducted and valuation of papers should be completed in August-September

• personality test of shortlisted candidates should be performed in February-March

• KPSC should submit the complete information about shortlisted candidates to State Government in May

(Source: Vijay Karnataka)