Dimapur, Dec. 18: Persons aspiring to become public servants have approached the Governor seeking his intervention to address what have been alleged as anomalies. The group, the Public Service Aspirants of Nagaland (PSAN), issued a press release on Sunday stating to have met with the Governor at Raj Bhavan on December 16.
During the meeting, the PSAN members raised concerns on the issues related to contractual and backdoor appointments, “rampant deputation, non adherence to service rules, lack of transparency in the exams conducted by NPSC, etc,” the press release stated.
The organisation also put forward a proposal to have a separate staff selection board / commission in line with the Staff Selection Commission at the central level, for recruitment to posts that do not come under the purview of Nagaland Public Service Commission. This is to “prevent malpractices by the departments in the recruitment process,” the PSAN stated.
Sharing his thoughts and concerns on the plight of the people of Nagaland, the press release stated, the governor assured the members that he would look into the matter ‘with seriousness and do whatever necessary was needed to be done.’
The PSAN said to have unearthed through RTI queries contractual appointments in various departments.
“...it is our demand that those appointees that haven't been regularized be terminated immediately and their vacancies be advertised for recruitment so as to provide equal opportunities to all in matters of recruitment to public offices as enshrined in article 16 of the Indian constitution,” the group stated.
In the representation to the governor, the PSAN listed out a number of issues. The organization has demanded that the government of Nagaland strictly adhere to the office memorandum banning contractual appointments.
According to the organization, the PSAN has ‘unearthed backdoor / contractual appointments in various departments” through the use of the RTI.
“We pray to your Excellency to immediately terminate these contractual appointments and requisition the posts to NPSC so that the entry to public service be made open to all and through free and fair competition,” the organization stated.
The government of Nagaland should immediately stop the “practice of rampant deputation” and “thereby leading to absorption of their service against those sanctioned posts which are to be recruited under NPSC, as it clearly denies opportunities to thousands of educated and capable aspirants.”
Likewise, all the departments should formulate ‘clear-cut service rules’ and strictly adhere to them to prevent unfair and corrupt practices, the organization stated. The PSAN also iterated the demand to set up a state staff selection board or commission in line with the Staff Selection Commission of the central government for recruitment and conduct of examination of those posts which do not fall under the purview of the NPSC.
The group has appealed to the governor to intervene so that the NPSC declare and make public the marks scored by candidates of all stages (preliminaries, main examinations and interview), to maintain transparency.
Likewise, they appealed to the governor to intervene so that the NPSC provide answer keys for the technical exams and for paper-one of the NCS/NPS/NSS & other Allied Services main examinations; that the NPSC complete the entire process of examinations in one calendar year.
