Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the Kerala government is hurrying with the regularisation of temporary employees engaged by its departments or agencies, the move to give permanent postings to 1,856 people working, mostly on daily wages, in the Kerala Bank has hit a hurdle as the Secretary for Cooperation has sent back the recommendation made by the Cabinet in this regard.

Mini Antony, the Secretary of the Department of Cooperation, mentioned in the file forwarded by the Cabinet that mass appointments should be done only after a proper study and that the recommendation does not specify the financial impact of such appointments.

In the order rejecting the recommendation, she also pointed out that the file was submitted without the scrutiny of co-operative registrar.

Part-time sweepers to those in senior management positions were on the list of employees being considered for permanent appointments at the Kerala Bank.

“We have been trying to confirm people, including collection agents, who have been working for more than 10 years at the bank. I do not know how many such employees are there. We need to ensure that no one loses jobs as part of the merger (that resulted in Kerala Bank),” Co-operation Minister Kadakampally Surendran said.

Two files

The CEO of Kerala Bank had sent a file to the Cabinet containing the names and details of 1,856 persons to be considered for confirmation and another file of only those who had completed 10 years of service.

Of the 1,856, 852 have worked temporarily for 10 years. Most of the remaining 1,004 have less than five years of work experience.

Two lists were prepared so that at least those who had completed 10 years could be made permanent if there was any objection to the other category.

With the Secretary's dismissal the move to make employees at the Kerala Bank permanent has been now kept on hold. This could be also in view of the public outcry against the mass confirmation of hundreds of employees in other government departments.

Pending list

After clearing the appointments at Kerala Bank, the Cabinet now has before it a list of about 500 people for confirmation in various posts. A decision on this is expected on Monday, though similar recommendations for regularising temporary employees could be submitted before 3 pm on Sunday so that they can be taken up for consideration the next day.