‘What did that officer achieve by beating my hopes? Many times I have said that I may not be able to write another PSC test and get into the rank list. Yet he put my life in the balance…’ Nisha Balakrishnan, a resident of Chawara, who was brutalized by the officer of the director of urban affairs who reported the vacancy at 12 midnight on the day of the expiry of the rank list, broke down and cried.
Nisha was ranked 696 in the LD clerk rank list for various departments in Ernakulam district. The rank list which came into force on 31 March 2015 has expired on 31 March 2018. A few days before that, the vacancy in Kochi Corporation (NJD vacancy) is notified to the Director of Urban Affairs on 28th. Nisha and other candidates in the rank list were there when this email came to the office of the director of urban affairs.
The clerk of the establishment section of the office begged Binuraj to report the vacancy to the PSC today. ‘Let’s do it’ was the reply. I returned hoping for that reply. 29th and 30th public holiday. Even when I called him several times on the 31st, he did not say anything else. I mightn’t even imagine that such cruelty was hidden inside. He sent a mail to the Ernakulam District PSC officer reporting the vacancy at exactly 12 midnight that day to settle his grudge. According to the records, it reached the PSC office on 12.04. I lost my hope in that technique…’ Nisha’s words got stuck in her throat.
‘As far as I know I have done nothing wrong. During the previous government, the aspirants went on hunger strike and went on an indefinite strike on the steps of the Secretariat demanding the appointment. Most of the government offices in the capital, I and others used to go up and down from the hunger pandal. I went there at least a hundred times, knowing that the most vacancies were likely to be reported from the office of the Director of Urban Affairs. ‘Is the plan to come to the capital and starve to death..?’ That was the question of some officials when I went there. That struggle was not once morest anyone, it was only for a job to live…’ says Nisha.
The then PSC member R. Parvathi Devi (wife of Minister V. Sivankutty) was met and given all the information. Nisha also says that the application was rejected saying that there was opposition in the PSC meeting.
