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Friday, March 29, 2024

Govt to set up panel on roster system; recruitment on hold

The chief minister also announced that the state government has agreed to put on hold all new recruitment till the committee submits its report. He said that the report and a final discussion were expected in a “very, very short time.”

SHILLONG:

The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government on Friday decided to constitute a committee on the roster system while keeping in abeyance all recruitment until a final decision.

The twin decisions capped an all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on the roster system, at the Secretariat here.

Leaders of both ruling and opposition political parties attended the meeting.

Leaders of the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) and the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), however, staged a walkout to protest against the government’s failure to discuss the need to review the reservation policy. VPP president Ardent Basaiawmoit will stage an indefinite hunger strike from May 23.

The committee will be headed by the Minister in charge of Health and Family Welfare, Ampareen Lyngdoh, Sangma informed.

The decision to form the committee was taken in view of concerns raised and clarifications sought by political parties on the roster system following a presentation on the matter.

“Members of different political parties will be in the committee,” Sangma told reporters.

“We will allow them to seek clarification and give further suggestions on how we should move forward,” he added.

The chief minister also announced that the state government has agreed to put on hold all new recruitment till the committee submits its report. He said that the report and a final discussion were expected in a “very, very short time.”

He informed that the government will immediately come up with the terms and references and the committee will be sitting very soon.

The chief minister said most of the political parties expressed satisfaction with the detailed discussion and the presentation.

Sangma further said that clarification was also given in connection with the education sector on whether the roster system is applicable.

“We have clarified that the roster is meant for jobs only and not meant for educational purposes in the sense of seats in different educational institutes across the country,” he maintained.

Also clarifying that the government has no intention to implement the roster system right from 1972, the chief minister said the matter was explained to all political parties during the presentation.

“I would like to clarify that all the appointments that were made in the past and all decisions taken as per the reservation policy are legally binding on the government. Hence, the question of us going back and looking at it and canceling or making adjustments does not arise. Therefore, these were done based on the reservation policy. And now after information and data have been plotted, we are in a position in some of the departments to understand how we are going to move forward.”

When asked, Sangma said, “We have explained to everybody that the roster system is a continuous process. It starts in 1972 and it continues. It is important for us to understand this starting point because it allows us to understand where we are today.”

“But while we say that we also have to remember that in the past 50 years, whatever has happened in the recruitment process which was plotted in the roster system was based on the reservation policy,” he said, adding these could not be changed now. “Hence, the data and information allow us to plot and understand where we stand, but as I said the concern that we will go back and change things does not arise,” he reiterated.

Further, the chief minister informed that during the meeting, there were also certain political parties that asked and stressed that since the discussion was on the reservation roster, reservation should be discussed. “We made it very clear to them that today’s discussion is on the roster system and the reason the word reservation is there is because it is the roster on the reservation hence, the discussion was limited only to the roster system and not beyond that.”

To another query, Sangma said that the committee will be very short and quick since most of the issues have been discussed today. 

“Since it is a sensitive topic, we felt it is important to reach out, to discuss and it is important to take everybody into confidence before we move forward and hence, we have decided to come up with this committee,” he added.

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