Kerala government extends temporary data entry operators in lottery department for eighth time since 2018

Time of India

2 days ago

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T'puram: In a glaring example of the state's persistent reliance on discretionary hiring, the state govt has once again extended the tenure of 25 temporary data entry operators in the lottery department, marking the eighth such extension since 2018.
A govt order issued on May 27 has now extended their appointment till June 2026, citing increased workload due to higher ticket sales and prize claims.
What began as a stop-gap arrangement seven years ago, first approved via an order on June 7, 2018, has morphed into a seemingly permanent fixture. Over the years, even as the number of temporary posts has fluctuated (reduced from 28 to 25), the core practice has remained unchanged: Retaining daily-wage staff on an annual renewal basis without competitive recruitment.
The justification provided is tied to the department's increased operational demands: Rising ticket sales, expanded prize structures and the need for efficient processing. On paper, the logic appears practical — maintaining continuity and handling growing data loads. But in administrative terms, the repetitive extension of temporary appointments without a clear recruitment plan is a significant deviation from the legal and ethical standards set for public employment.
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The govt order goes a step further by stating that these posts are "very much needed" due to the department's heavy workload. If that is indeed the case, the logical course of action should have been to create sanctioned posts and notify them through the
Kerala Public Service Commission
(PSC). That would have ensured transparency, fair opportunity and constitutional compliance. If budgetary constraints prevent the creation of new posts, there exists an alternative that the govt itself has acknowledged in several internal reviews: Redeployment of surplus staff from other departments.
Numerous reports and recommendations by the personnel and administrative reforms department as well as expert committees appointed by the govt, have pointed out the presence of excess and often redundant posts in various departments. A judicious redeployment of this workforce could not only help bridge resource gaps like those in the lottery department but also optimise public spending in a period of fiscal stress.
Yet, these recommendations remain largely on paper, while stop-gap hiring practices continue on the ground.
Under the Compulsory Notification of Vacancies Act, 1959, all appointments outside the Public Service Commission are required to be routed through employment exchanges. This legal safeguard was designed to prevent arbitrary hiring and ensure that public posts, even temporary ones, are filled transparently.
Yet, as in many other cases across departments and PSUs in Kerala, actual practice has steadily diverged from this framework.
The danger in normalising this gap is not just administrative laxity — it sets the stage for unlawful regularisations, often timed with electoral cycles. The practice of extending temporary posts without break creates a class of employees whose continued presence itself becomes an argument for absorption into permanent service.
This method was starkly evident ahead of the 2021 elections, when the previous LDF govt faced public criticism for a slew of regularisations done in the final months of its term.
Interestingly, such practices were once a focal point of the LDF's criticism against the UDF govt during the 2016 elections. But govt records now indicate that the volume of temporary and daily-wage hiring has expanded further under successive LDF administrations.
The issue appears to have outgrown partisan boundaries and settled into the fabric of routine governance.
This trend has already attracted judicial scrutiny. In the landmark Umadevi judgment of 2006, a five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that ad hoc appointments made outside legal norms cannot be regularised simply because the employee served for long. The court stressed that rules under Article 309 of the Constitution take precedence and that executive orders under Article 162 cannot be used to override them.
Regular recruitment through open competition was affirmed as the only constitutionally sound method to fill public vacancies.
Despite these clear directives, Kerala's hiring landscape continues to reflect a reliance on executive discretion. A senior bureaucrat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted that while workload justification may hold on a case-by-case basis, the larger pattern raises valid concerns.
"What we see here is a familiar route — posts kept 'temporary' for years, with the same people renewed annually. Eventually, political pressure builds for regularisation.
That's a classic administrative bypass," the official said.
"The deeper impact is on the morale of qualified youth waiting through the PSC pipeline. Many cleared exams, rank lists expired or were frozen, and meanwhile, departments quietly retain daily-wage staff for nearly a decade. The signals are discouraging for aspirants like me banking on a level playing field," a PSC rank holder awaiting an appointment said on condition of anonymity.
The May 27 order, on the surface, is just another extension order. But it underscores a broader question of whether Kerala's public recruitment system is veering away from its constitutional anchor.