From Our Special Correspondent 
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Aug 7: Taking a tough decision on the corruption charges in the recruitment by Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) for 362 posts of gazetted probationers of Group A and B, recruitees belonging to the 2011 batch as per the final list announced on March 21, 2014 have been rejected by the State Government.

A Cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah discussed the issue of the final list submitted to the government by the KPSC in detail and unanimously rejected it in total.

The State Cabinet has decided issue new advertisement to hold the examination. It has decided to grant age relaxation to all candidates to reappear the examination.

Over one lakh candidates wrote the examination about two years ago.

Briefing reporters on the decisions of the State Cabinet at its meeting on Thursday, Karnataka’s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said the Cabinet has rejected the list following rampant corruption in the selection of candidates by the KPSC.

Terming the decision to reject the KPSC recruitments as ''historic,’’the minister said the State Government has decided not to support corruption in the recruitment of gazetted posts.

''The Government is convinced about the seriousness of the issue. The State Cabinet is fully convinced. It is beyond doubt that corruption has happened and we don’t want to encourage corruption," he said.

In future, the examination would be conducted as per the P CHota committee recommendations accepted by the Government last year.

Apart from filling 362 posts, applications would be invited for filling more vacancies.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had conducted a probe and submitted 26 voluminous reports to the Government highlighting malpractices in the examination system conducted by the KPSC.

The Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) on July 2 vacated the stay on the final list announced by the KPSC.

The State Government has filed criminal cases against KPSC members, including former Chairperson Gonal Bhimappa.

KPSC member Mangala Sridhar has been suspended on charges of corruption by former Governor H R Bhardwaj.

''Prosecution of other members is also pending before the Government," the minister said.

Following discrepancies in the allotment of marks during interviews, the State Government has told the KPSC to conduct re-evaluation and interviews again.

But the KPSC rejected the Government’s suggestions on the ground that it is a constitutional body, he contended.