MEGHALAYA:
State Law Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Wednesday gave an assurance to examine the demand for rectifying the government’s decision to prepare the reservation roster retrospectively. “We will study the matter and we will take suggestions on board; however, how much these suggestions will actually be feasible for implementation is yet to be seen,” Lyngdoh told reporters after a meeting with Hynñiewtrep Youth Council.
Officials of the Law department were also present during the meeting. Refusing to comment further on the issue, Lyngdoh said, “I am happy that interaction took place because the government should not be seen resisting valuable interaction on a matter of this nature.” When asked, the minister said indulging in communalisation of the implementation of the roster system will not be allowed: “We are a government by the people and for the people, and it is in the interest of the people that decision will be taken.”And to my information and knowledge, the matter is now being reviewed. Government departments are now engaging in the collection of data. It is a humungous task. The last order was out sometime in May 2022 and it has taken the government departments so long.
Yet, there are still many government departments that have not completed this exercise,” she said.“So I will leave it at that. I will refuse to infer into any statements made by anyone, and I will ensure that whatever decisions are taken are not because of the necessity of dividing our communities and we will ensure whatever decision that is taken is in the interest of the people of the state of Meghalaya,” she asserted.
In a memorandum to Lyngdoh, HYC demanded that the state government rectify the Office Memorandum (OM) which stated that the reservation roster should be prepared retrospectively, accusing this action as being fraught with dubious legalities and sought the Law minister’s intervention.”It is also a settled law that any notification in order to have retrospective effect has to be authorised by a statute and in our opinion, the OM dated May 10, 2022, has no statute which authorised preparing the Reservation Roster to be effective retrospectively. Hence, it is illegal and the government must rectify it at the earliest,” the memorandum, signed by HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin, who is also a lawyer by profession, said.
He said they had seen various advertisements in government offices with certain reserved categories being provisioned more seats than the others “because of this faulty and illegal Office Memorandum”.
“This may lead to the deprivation of jobs to deserving candidates and also leads to unnecessary litigation. Hence, the OM needs to be rectified immediately,” Kharjahrin said, while adding, “Based on the above facts and circumstances, we would like to urge you to take necessary steps for rectification of the OM dated May 10, 2022 on the matter relating to the maintenance of reservation roster.”
Kharjahrin said the HYC is of the opinion that the guidelines for the preparation of the roster, as per the Office Memorandum dated May 10, 2022, contradict the Resolution dated January 12, 1972.
“The guidelines as per the OM dated May 10, 2022, provided that the roster shall be prepared since the time the Reservation Policy came into effect i.e. from the year 1972.
However, the Resolution stated above, clearly specifies in Paragraph 2 that after the expiry of the second year, these reservations shall be treated as lapsed in case of non-filling of reserved category posts in any recruitment year,” explained Kharjahrin.
The state government, pursuant to the judgment of the Meghalaya High Court dated April 5, 2022, and judgment dated April 20, 2022, had notified the guidelines for the same vide office memorandum dated May 10, 2022.
At point D (1) of the OM, it is stated that “In order to prepare the reservation roster, names of all the candidates holding the post as on the date of notification of this OM starting with the earliest appointee, since the time the Reservation Policy came into effect, subject to information being available, shall be filled up in the Reservation Roster against the point in the Roster.”
As per the resolution dated January 12, 1972, which provides for the Reservation Policy in the state, it is clearly stated in paragraph 2 that “If a sufficient number of suitable candidates for filling up the reserved vacancies is not available from the respective classes in any particular year, then such vacancies will be available to others. But the deficiency in the number of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes will be carried forward to the next recruitment year and made good in the recruitment of that year, provided that reservation on account of deficiency shall not be carried forward for more than one year. After the expiry of the second year, these reservations shall be treated as lapsed. It has also been decided that at no time shall the number of normally reserved vacancies and the carry forward vacancies together exceed 90 per cent of the total number of vacancies in that year.”
It may be mentioned here that the Meghalaya High Court vide order dated May 11, 2022, has clearly stated that “Since the roster system is now in place, and without going into the merits thereof, the suo motu proceedings are dropped”.
Further, the Meghalaya High Court has clearly stated that “The validity of the roster system has not been gone into.” Hence, it may not be misconstrued that the High Court has accepted the validity of the roster system as per the OM dated May 10, 2022, the HYC leader stated.