Thiruvananthapuram, Wednesday 12 August 2009: Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan today sent a letter to the Prime Minister of India regarding the restrictions imposed by the State Bank group in giving appointment to pregnant women in fresh recruitments. VS asked Manmohan Singh that it should be barred as early as possible.

According to State Bank Staff Union, a circular issued to the doctors, who conducted the medical examination of candidates for clerical posts after written examination, pregnancy had been cited as a bar for immediate appointment.

Earlier the CPI-M state Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had also come out open against the bias he asked the bank management to withdraw the “restriction” as it went against gender equality guaranteed by the Constitution.

Dubbing the norm as violation of the universally accepted policy of gender justice, All India Democratic Womens Association (AIDWA) state President T N Seema and General Secretary K K Shylaja, MLA, said it would come in the way of several women candidates joining duty in due time and cause loss of seniority if they happened to be pregnant.

When contacted, SBI local head office officials declined to make any comment on the issue.