Controversy over suspected anomalies in Kerala PSC evaluation and rank list preparation

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Suspected administrative irregularities in the Kerala Public Service Commission’s (PSC) published rank list for posts in the State Planning Board have kicked up a storm. The PSC on Monday (June 29, 2026) directed its internal vigilance wing to probe into the allegations regarding the process of valuation and preparation of rank lists for three chief-level posts in the board.

The issues have cropped up regarding the evaluation for Chief (Industry and Infrastructure), Chief (Perspective Planning) and Chief (Planning Coordination) posts in the State Planning Board, each offering a pay of around ₹1.25 lakh a month. The anomalies came to light after a candidate obtained the answer sheets through the Right to Information Act.

As many as 10 descriptive questions, which amounted to 58 marks out of 100, were found to be left unevaluated in the answer scripts of candidates. The PSC said in an official statement that the answers to these questions for any of these candidates were not evaluated due to an error in assigning these questions for evaluation in the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

The PSC has now decided to re-evaluate all the answers of all the candidates. The status of the advice memos already issued for the posts of Chief (Industry and Infrastructure) and Chief (Planning Coordination) will be dependent on the Kerala Administrative Tribunal’s (KAT) verdict. A few candidates had earlier approached the KAT against the appointments.

The internal vigilance wing will also inquire whether there has been a delay in providing the copy of the answer sheets to the candidates who asked for it. The PSC statement said that the marks were omitted in two of the rank lists because the selection for the third chief post could not be completed due to court proceedings.

Meanwhile, J.S. Akhil, national coordinator of the Youth Congress, has demanded the State government to order a comprehensive investigation by the Vigilance and