SHILLONG:
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on March 27, said it was mandatory to have a roster system in place for implementation of the state reservation policy.
Replying to the discussion on the budget in the Assembly, Sangma said the roster system was not implemented in the state for the past 50 years and now it is being implemented in compliance with the order of the Meghalaya High Court.
He, however, said that the members were free to challenge the court order. “They can always challenge the order,” Sangma said.
Earlier while participating in the budget discussion, Voice of the People Party (VPP) legislator from Nongkrem Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit expressed concern over the reservation policy and said that the roster system should be put on hold as it will have wide ramifications on the citizens of the state.
Participating in the debate on the budget in the Assembly, Basaiawmoit said the current reservation policy stipulates 40 seats each for the Garos and Khasis and 20 for the general category.
According to him, this does not reflect the difference in the size of population of the two tribes as the Khasis constitute more than the Garos.
Although several changes were made regarding the policy, the government has failed to reserve seats for persons with disabilities (PwDs). “This makes the roster system ineffective,” Basaiawmoit said.
“It is an urgent need to put the roster system and its implementation on hold and let the government come up with a better policy not to discriminate anyone. According to the change in the roster system, outsiders could also avail its benefits. The present leadership should come together and come up with a new policy,” he added.
The VPP MLA had, on March 24, threatened to hit the streets after he was unable to move a motion on the implementation of the roster system since the House was adjourned at noon as is the Friday norm.
The state cabinet had approved the roster system in May last year after the Meghalaya High Court stayed all recruitment processes of the state government until it was put in place.
Hearing a petition, a bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee had described the absence of a roster system as a “deplorable state of affairs”, which left open possibilities of nepotism and arbitrariness and worse forms of subversions.
“The further recruitment processes for all posts in the state will remain stayed in the sense that no further appointments will be made until the roster system is put in place,” the court had said adding it would apply across state government agencies and instrumentalities in the state wherever the reservation policy is in vogue.