The dismissal of the case filed by the Acaut and PSAN against the government of Nagaland concerning irregular appointments in the state that were made after April 10 2006 is not the end of the issue. It is surely not the end of hope for the thousands of unemployed youths in the state. Although the case was dismissed, the court showed in a way how best the case can be filed again following proper procedure. It kept the door open for a fresh case to be filed. On the other hand, it has instead taught the many aspiring youths of the state some very basics of law that governs the state.
The court was very specific when disposing the case that the case was not dismissed on grounds of merit. Instead it pronounced that the case was not maintainable because it involved 25 government departments against which the allegation of irregular appointments were made. The court maintained that all the irregular appointments in the departments cannot be taken up in entirety. The other ground for dismissal was that the petitioners were unable to prove how they were the aggrieved parties because of the alleged irregular appointments. Had the case been a Public Interest Litigation the outcome of the case may have been quite different.
Although the present case has been dismissed, it is only a matter of time that the issue returns to the courts again. Moreover, the court directed the state respondents not to regularise irregular appointments according to the office memorandums of 11/8/16 and 4/8/16 as it is against the Supreme Court’s order. This is a very strong direction to the state government for future appointments that needs to be adhered to. It is time for the government to streamline the recruitment process. Once the recruitment process is made just and transparent it would bring an end to the many disgruntled anti-establishment voices.
