Thiruvananthapuram: In a severe blow to the aided school managements in the state, the Kerala Government has taken over their powers to appoint candidates as staff in seats reserved for people with disabilities.

Based on a Supreme Court directive, the state government has issued an order constituting state and district-level committees of officers to fill such vacancies.

As per the government order, the district-level panels would prepare a rank list of candidates from the lists at the employment exchange and make recommendations for appointments. The order states that the school management must appoint these candidates.

The tasks of the state-level committee include preparing guidelines for district-level panels, submitting reports on government appointments, and settling appeals.

Incidentally, vacancies in posts reserved for differently abled teachers and other staff have existed in many schools since 1996.

District committees
The committees will have three members at the district level. The convener for primary and high schools will be the Deputy Director of Education, and for vocational higher secondary schools, the Additional Director.

State-level panel
The state-level committee will have seven members, with the Director of General Education as chairman and the Additional Director as convenor. The members would be senior officers in the General Education Department, the Employment Additional Director/ Joint Director, and the Deputy Director in the Social Justice Department.