thiruvannathapuram the ongoing protest by lastgrade psc rankholders in front of the secretariat witnessed some drama on monday with two protesters pouring kerosene on themselves and threatening to selfimmolate they were demanding extension of the validity of their rank listspolice immediately arrested the protesters priju rank 954 and praveen kumar rank 354 and removed them from the scene they were later released on bail fire force personnel were also deployed in the locationthe cabinet had last week decided to extend the validity of various psc rank lists by six more months in the wake of protests and allegations that the appointment from these lists were stuck while the government was busy making backdoor appointmentsthe validity of all rank lists expiring between february 3 and august 2 this year has been extended till august 3 now the list for lastgrade staff recruitment was originally valid till june and the decision will give it only a nominal extension of one monththe protesters also allege that the posts they rightly deserve are being illegally given to contract employees who are being regularised indiscriminately at least 450 contract employees in various organisations were regularised in the past three months overruling objections raised by the finance and law departments