Dimapur, August 12 : The ACAUT has noted the practice of ‘tender permits’ for essential commodities allegedly given to select individuals, and has demanded that the administrators of the districts show “guts” to stop syndication and the “agency system.”
The anti-graft organization issued a press release on Friday taking strong exception at the case of Kohima where the so-called ‘tender permits’ on essential commodities were being issued and that too, “to few moneyed individuals, thereby abusing the system shamelessly…”
Unless the municipal administrator and top officials in the Municipal Affairs department, “or the parliamentary secretary himself have been compromised, there is no ground for issuance of tender permits and allowing a handful of individuals to monopolise one of the biggest markets in the state,” the ACAUT stated.
The “tender permit system is absolutely condemnable and the administrator of KMC should immediately clarify as to who is behind this trying to introduce syndicate system failing which the KMC establishment shall not be above suspicion of having compromised itself. The ACAUT Nagaland supports the stand of the KVYO giving seven days time to KMC to revoke all the illegal permits,” the organization stated.
The organization stated that ‘tender permits’ and ‘agencies’ were “nothing but illegal monopolies" that harmed consumers, mostly the poor people.
The ‘agency system,’ too, is prevalent in Tuensang, the ACAUT stated. It is “another notable example of how the DCs (deputy commissioners) or the district administration in the districts have become indifferent to the cries of the common man either due to fear, lack of integrity, or simply because of individual incompetence.”
The demand of the Tuensang Town All Wards Union demanding from the DC of Tuensang cancellation of all ‘agency systems,’ is justified and long overdue, the press release stated.
The ACAUT added: ‘The agency system in Tuensang has been in existence for a long time but none of the successive DCs have had the guts to stop this malpractice with an iron hand. The present DC, Tuensang, is strongly urged to strictly abide by the rules and regulations and arrest the practitioners of the agency system without fear or favour. If the DC, Tuensang, is still groping in the dark, the ACAUT Nagaland can provide names of the agency holders for his prompt action.’
Armed with HC verdict, ACAUT eagle eyes HoDs
Now that the Guwahati High Court has upheld the cause against illegal appointments and the Nagaland government’s arbitration to regularize jobs randomly, the Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation has assured government heads that it will be in vigilance.
'The ACAUT Nagaland cautions all HODs that it will cross check all the departments for compliance and if necessary will take recourse to legal action till it encounters satisfactory results,' the group has stated.
The organization issued a press release on Thursday referring to the August 5 statement of the Gauhati High Court giving legal sanctity to an office memorandum of the Nagaland Cabinet that ‘no appointment shall be made on contract basis, henceforth.’
The statement said: “The unfettered right of the state government to make illegal appointments and the cabinet to regularize it have been taken away with….Thus, the (honorable) HC judgment is very clear that all forms of backdoor appointments have to be stopped and stopped, henceforth. The court’s order is to be understood in relation to OM 2016, OM 2001, Dr. Atouzo Vs State of Nagaland and Umadevi case. Again, both the OM 2016 and the Undertaking Affidavit submitted by the chief secretary to the (honorable) high court quotes extensively from Umadevi case and Dr. Atouzo Vs state of Nagaland.”
Also, the press release stated, because all contract appointments have been banned, no posts coming under the purview of the Nagaland Public Service Commission, including both gazette and non-gazette posts can be filled ‘through backdoor’ by the departments as was the case in the past.
“Again, all instances of backdoor appointments post-OM 2016 may be reviewed by the departments and terminated with immediate effect. The (honorable) court has given liberty to the petitioner—ACAUT—to approach the court if the government violates and refuses to implement the clause as laid down in OM dated 06/06/2016,” the organization stated.
The bottom-line is, the ACAUT added, apart from the contract appointments being banned, “It is absolutely critical that the government stop the yearly but illegal extension of contract appointments with immediate effect based on the landmark judgment of the (honorable) high court and that none of the contract appointments is extended beyond the permissible period.”
The ACAUT cautioned heads of departments that the organization would ‘crosscheck all the departments for compliance and if necessary will take recourse to legal action till satisfactory results.’
