Kozhikode: The Kerala government is planning to make large-scale appointments in loss-making public sector units before its term comes to an end early next year.

Industries Minister E P Jayarajan has issued a directive to convene a meeting of the heads of public sector units and co-operative establishments to discuss the appointments.

Two high-level officials from each of the 44 public sector units and 30 cooperative entities, besides representatives of Restructuring and Internal Audit Board (RIAB) will take part in the meeting. This would mean that there would be more than 200 people.

Some have pointed out that the industry minister himself calling a meeting of over 200 people when the state has said there shouldn’t be any grouping of more than five people would be a violation of the COVID protocol.

The minister has directed the managing directors and chairpersons to attend the meeting with complete details of existing vacancies, the vacancies expected in future and those that may arise if the entities are modernised within a year, the staff recruitment rule and the salary scale.

Only 20 per cent of posts in the public sector units have been handed over to the Public Service Commission. Of the 42 PSUs, 26 are running in heavy losses.

The meeting will be held at Vellayambalam in Thiruvananthapuram on May 5 under the chairmanship of N Sasidharan Nair, who is the chairman of Public Sector Restructuring and Internal Audit Board (RIAB), which is the regulatory authority of public sector undertakings and executes reforms initiatives in them.