Kerala High Court pulls up PSC for stonewalling Crime Branch probe into Planning Board exam scandal

The Kerala High Court on Monday pulled up the Kerala Public Service Commission for refusing to cooperate with the Crime Branch investigation into alleged irregularities in the examination held for recruitment to the State Planning Board, asking pointedly why the constitutional body's members were stonewalling a probe they were not even accused in. Justice A. Badharudeen was hearing a petition filed by the KPSC seeking to quash the Crime Branch FIR and the state government's prosecution sanction against its staff and members. "Why are you not cooperating with the investigation?" the judge asked orally. "You are being called for getting information, not arrayed as an accused. You are being called as a man knowing the facts of the case." The court reminded the Commission that public employment is the hope of lakhs of young people and that there is a legitimate expectation on the state to preserve its sanctity. The case goes back to a 2022 KPSC notification for the post of Chief of the Industry and Infrastructure Division of the State Planning Board. After the written examination, a shortlist of 10 candidates was published in February 2025. One of them approached the Kerala Administrative Tribunal pointing out that 10 questions had not been evaluated at all. The KPSC ordered a preliminary inquiry in June 2026, and its own Internal Vigilance Officer reported that an error had indeed occurred: one question in 177 answer scripts and nine questions in all 228 answer scripts had gone unevaluated. The Commission says it then decided to take corrective measures under its Rules of Procedure, and the tribunal permitted the process to continue. But the state government decided to initiate prosecution, granting sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act against KPSC staff and members. The Crime Branch registered a case alleging criminal breach of trust under Section 316(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and bribery and criminal misconduct offences under Sections 7(c) and 13(1)(a) of the PC Act. Notices were issued to staff and members. The KPSC has moved the High Court arguing that the state government cannot grant prosecution sanction against a constitutional body. Meanwhile, a standoff has hardened between the investigators and the Commission: the PSC's members refused to appear at the Crime Branch headquarters, offering instead to cooperate only at the PSC's own premises. The Crime Branch has rejected that position, maintaining that constitutional status confers no immunity from questioning in a criminal investigation. For the lakhs of aspirants who see the PSC as the last credible gateway to a government job, the spectacle of the recruiting body itself fighting the investigators is the real scandal. The court's question hangs over the whole affair: if the Commission believes it acted lawfully, why will it not simply show up and say so?