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Three years after the exam and a year after the appointment, the Planning Board exams conducted by the Kerala Public Service Commission (Kerala PSC) have come under scrutiny. The issue came to light when two candidates, K Shyam Krishnan and JS Jayalal, who were included in the rank list, requested their answer sheets and discovered that 10 descriptive questions, numbered 9 to 18, had not been evaluated. These unanswered questions accounted for 58 marks, which is more than half of the total score of 100.
These findings prompted PSC to conduct an internal inquiry, which confirmed that the 10 answers for all 228 candidates who took the exam had not been evaluated.
This irregularity occurred in the exam conducted on July 13, 2023, by the Kerala PSC for the three senior chief positions: Chief of Industry and Infrastructure, Chief of Perspective Planning, and Chief of Planning Coordination. Following this, the Kerala government, on July 8, ordered a Crime Branch investigation over the irregularities and other allegations.
Consequently, the first rank holder, Arun J Prathap, who is allegedly an active member of a left organisation – who received his appointment in May 2025 – now faces a legal halt due to this evaluation error. His appointment is subject to the final verdict of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT).
Based on the findings from the interim report, the Kerala PSC has directed the vigilance and internal security officer on July 6 to conduct a comprehensive investigation and submit a report within two weeks.
The appointment took place when the previous Left Democratic government (LDF) led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was in power in Kerala. This raised another question of credibility in the PSC appointments for the past 10 LDF tenures.
“It is a fact that, had these 10 questions been evaluated, the ranking list would naturally have been different,” said OJ Janeesh, Minister for Youth Welfare, Sports, and Registration in Kerala.
He also added that, if the public suspected a deliberate attempt behind these irregularities, then those concerns could not be dismissed. “This is because the person ranked first on the list, who was subsequently appointed, is an active member and leader of a left-wing organisation,” he alleged.
Following these evaluation irregularities, the Youth Congress alleged that the LDF made back-door appointments in the PSC. They demanded a comprehensive probe into the alleged irregularities in appointments made by the Kerala PSC during the previous LDF government's tenure. They also conducted a protest march to the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) office on July 6.
The Kerala PSC conducts one of the highest numbers of government recruitment examinations among all Indian states. Unlike most state PSCs, which primarily recruit for top-tier civil service positions, Kerala's PSC manages almost all public sector hiring within the state.
The exams for the three posts are the highest-ranked conducted by the PSC, with a salary range of Rs 1,23,700 to Rs 1,66,800.
The appointment process consists of two descriptive exams followed by an interview. Paper 1 was common to all three positions, while the second paper was subject-specific. Here, irregularities were found in Paper 1, affecting all three posts.
The rank list was released on May 31, 2025, nearly two years after the exam was conducted, and it only displayed the ranks. According to sources, the PSC usually provides interview and written test scores separately along with the rank list.
Candidates said that the PSC explained this decision because, in one division – the Chief of Perspective Planning – only one candidate was shortlisted and all other candidates were rejected due to qualification issues. This decision was challenged in the KAT and a stay was issued. As a result, the PSC stated that they would publish the scores only after all the results were finalised.
Two candidates, K Shyam Krishnan and JS Jayalal, who got ranks third and fifth, respectively, for the post of Chief Industry and Infrastructure division, requested the answer sheet following the rank list publication. They intended to check where they failed to score good marks, as both of them felt the exam and interview were easier.
As per the rule, the candidates who want to obtain a scanned image and tabulation sheet of their answer sheet should apply within 15 days from the date on which the ranked list is uploaded on the Commission's website. They both applied before day 15.
However, there is no written rule on when PSC needs to give them the answer sheet after the application is submitted. So, it took a year for them to get the answer sheets.
The PSC initially rejected Shyam Krishnan's application for his answer sheet, stating that they could not give it without publishing the complete rank list. Eventually, Shyam filed an RTI application, and it was only just before it came to a hearing before the RTI Commission that he received his answer sheet.
Minister Janeesh pointed out the delay in receiving answer sheets and said it undermined the credibility of the appointments. “In many cases, even though candidates are required to submit their applications within 15 days, the process often gets delayed for a year or even longer. Such delays create circumstances that undermine the credibility of the appointments that have already been made,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jayalal also received the answer sheet after he applied. On June 18 of this year, Jayalal received his answer sheet and subsequently approached the KAT.
A preliminary verification by the PSC revealed that the answers to questions 9 through 18 had not been evaluated for any candidates who appeared for the examination. This was confirmed in a press release issued by the PSC on June 29.
“The descriptive examination had been evaluated through the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. The preliminary finding is that these questions were inadvertently omitted from being assigned for evaluation in the OSM system, resulting in the answers remaining unevaluated for all candidates,” the press note read.
The Commission decided to evaluate the unevaluated answers of all candidates and promised to take further necessary action accordingly.
However, the appointment recommendations already issued for the two posts – the Chief Industry and Infrastructure Division and Chief Planning Coordination – are now subject to the final judgement of the KAT.
In a press note, the Commission said it has entrusted the Internal Vigilance Officer of the Kerala PSC with conducting a comprehensive inquiry. “The investigation will examine all technical and procedural aspects related to the issue. The inquiry will also examine whether there was any delay in providing candidates with copies of their answer scripts,” the PSC stated.
On July 8, Kerala CM VD Satheesan said the Crime Branch will investigate the complaints regarding the irregularities in PSC and the team headed by Inspector General of police (IG) Ajeetha Begam will look into the case.
Speaking with the media on July 8, CM said the interview panel should not have access to a candidate's examination marks. However, allegations have been raised that, in several interviews, the panel was aware of the scores and deliberately gave higher interview marks to candidates with lower examination scores, to help them overtake those who had higher marks in the written examination. “All such allegations will be investigated,” CM said.
Minister Janeesh alleged that the current government has received numerous complaints regarding irregularities in recruitments in departments such as the Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) and the Public Relations Department (PRD). "Most of the people who came to meet me raising concerns are PSC aspirants. When I met the CM, he also raised similar concerns that many individuals who come to meet him are PSC aspirants," he added.
He alleged that the first LDF government, which came to power in 2016, began to misuse the PSC. "During the tenure of the first Pinarayi government, Student Federation of India (SFI) leaders secured the top two ranks on the police recruitment list, allegedly having accessed the question paper in advance. Since then, candidates today suspect that there may have been questionable or irregular interventions by the PSC in various recruitment examinations," he added.
"Therefore, it is important to conduct a comprehensive screening of the examinations conducted by the PSC in the past 10 years," he added. The minister clarified that this was not intended to cast doubt on or undermine candidates who genuinely secured high marks in these examinations.
This article is published as a part of Media Fellowship on institutional accountability for Governance innovation labs.