Functions and powers of the Board.

(1) The Board shall have the following functions and powers, namely:— (i) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other existing Acts or rules or regulations or orders or judgments or decree in respect of selection of candidates to the posts in public enterprises, the Board shall prepare select list for appointment of candidates to various posts other than appointment made through the Kerala Public Service Commission, in accordance with the provisions of this Act and by adhering to the norms of reservation prescribed in the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1958, as amended from time to time, treating each such enterprise as one unit; (ii) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other existing Acts or rules or regulations or orders or judgments or decree in respect of selection of candidates to the posts in other public enterprises, the Board shall prepare select list for appointment of candidates to various posts other than appointment made through the Kerala Public Service Commission, on request and entrusted to the Board, by way of a notification, by the departments concerned, as per the provisions of this Act and by adhering to the norms of reservation prescribed in the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1958, as amended from time to time, treating each such enterprise as one unit; (iii) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other existing Acts or rules or regulations or orders or judgments or decree with respect to the selection of the post of Managing Directors or Head of the Public Sector Undertakings under the administrative control of Industries and Commerce Department, the Board shall recommend suitable candidates to the Government for appointment as per the provisions of this Act and the Government shall appoint the Managing Directors or Head of the Public Sector Undertakings after obtaining clearance from Vigilance Department and approval of the Council of Ministers; (iv) As a part of the selection process, the Board shall invite applications, verify the credentials, conduct written examinations or online examinations, as the Board deems fit, including the preparation of question papers, supervision of examinations, answer sheet valuation and also conduct group discussion and interview of candidates, as the case may be, and notify select list for appointment by the public enterprises and other public enterprises within a short time frame; (v) The Board shall be responsible for the proper conduct of the examinations to maintain secrecy in the preparation of question paper, valuation, preparation of list of candidates to be interviewed and preparation of final select list and for the safe custody of records; (vi) The Board may avoid written examination or online examination, if the number of candidates applied for the post is below fifty, and in such cases selection may be made on the basis of interview or group discussion or both as the case may be, as per the decision of the Board; (vii) The Board shall ensure that an applicant who applies for more than one post in a public enterprise or posts in more than one public enterprise shall not be denied the right to appear in more than one examination; (viii) The Board shall strictly adhere to the reservation norms adopted by the Kerala Public Service Commission. (2) The Board shall maintain safe custody of the records pertaining to the examinations and each activity in the selection process in electronic mode also after fixing a retention period. (3) The Board after conducting written or online examinations, as the case may be, fix a cut off level mark for the written or online examination for pursuance of further steps in the selection process. (4) The Board shall, immediately after the selection process is complete, notify the list of selected candidates for facilitating issue of appointment orders by the public enterprises and other public enterprises. (5) The Board shall frame the procedures for invitation of applications giving wide coverage for conducting written or online examination as the case may be, for preparation of list of candidates for further selection process, for conducting the interview and for notification of the list of selected candidates for appointment by the public enterprises and other public enterprises which had requested for recruitment of candidates. (6) The Board may issue general guidelines to the public enterprises under the Industries and Commerce Department incidental to the functions of the Board including those necessary for identifying vacant posts for selection by the Board. The information sought for may include information on Government approval for the vacant posts, pay scales, reports of manpower related studies carried out by the public enterprise, job descriptions, job specifications, age limit, whether the post is regular in nature or it is for a specific project only, whether the post is operative or not. (7) The Board may also seek information relating to approved special rules or recruitment rules for posts that are mandatorily referred to the Board, details of agreements with employees regarding internal promotions, resolution of the Board of Directors of the public enterprise and other public enterprise referring the matter to the Board so on and so forth.