KSRTC outsources officer recruitment to IIM-B

BANGALORE:The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore will now help the Karnataka StateRoad Transport Corporation (KSRTC) choose its officers, perhaps the first timethe premier B-school is involved in such an exercise.In a move aimedat increasing transparency in recruitment and minimizing any possibleinteraction between the corporation and candidates, IIM-B will evaluateexamination papers of candidates of the Grade 1 and 2 exams, one of which is onSunday.KSRTC MD Gaurav Gupta told STOI the institution had takenover the recruitment and made it almost paperless, similar to corporation'se-procurement procedures. The exam will be for officers at the higher level, forposts like that of chief mechanical engineer, chief traffic officer, amongothers. There are 82 Grade 1 and 262 Grade 2 posts to be filled.Theapplications for the exam were posted online and hall tickets downloaded andprinted. This year, there were 44,000 applications for over 200 posts, he said.KSRTC, being the cadre controlling authority, the posts are for all fourcorporations of the state -- KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC.TheIIM-B is involved in setting, conducting and evaluating papers for therecruitment exam. This, Gupta says, will eliminate contact between KSRTC and thecandidates and prevent any hanky-panky in recruitment.M A Saleem,director, personnel, KSRTC, said the exams were being held at nine centres --Bangalore, Mysore, Davanagere, Mangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga andBellary.KSRTC hired 20,000 employees in the driver and conductorcadre last year. All four corporations combines together have 1 lakhemployees.toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com