By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC), whose credibility has always been in question, is on a reformation course since former IAS officer Ashok Kumar Tigidi took over as its Chairman.
Tigidi, who took over the reins of the Commission in April last year has introduced major reforms, the most notable one being the introduction of online application facilities through the official website of the Commission.
The benefits of online registration include: one time registration with the MPSC website; filling up of the forms only once, and facilitating regular application for any number of advertised posts anytime in the future after the registration. It also provides facilities to check the status of one’s application.
“The online application facility is to ensure that there is no undue harassment to the candidates who are applying for the various posts,” Tigidi informed reporters.
In the past, the candidates had to visit the MPSC office for collecting the application forms and also comply with other necessary procedures like submitting the application forms at the office after making the necessary payment in the bank through a challan passed by the Treasury, he said.
“The worse affected by this long procedure are those candidates who hail from far flung areas like South Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills. They have to spend so much only to apply for the job which is not justified,” the MPSC chairman said.
“Candidates in far flung areas like Baghmara in South Garo Hills are also beginning to make use of the online application thereby cutting the expenditure incurred on travelling to Tura or Shillong,” he said.
He also informed that the MPSC received around 30,000 applications for some posts of Lower Division Assistants a few months back, out of which 1,166 applications were obtained through the online service.
He also informed that the Commission has also opened its cells in Jowai, Nongstoin, Baghmara and Williamnagar where application forms for various posts can be submitted.
“The MPSC also plans to conduct written examinations at Jowai and Nongstoin apart from the existing centres in Shillong and Tura in the near future,” he said.
With computerization being taken up in a big way, Tigidi informed that the results for the last 33 interviews were declared on the same day itself.
On future reforms, the MPSC Chairman said that the Commission is contemplating to give more weightage to the written examination rather than the subjective assessment of job applications.
The system of evaluating a candidate on the basis of ten per cent of marks from the personal interview and 90 per cent from the written examination has already been put into practice in some of the interviews conducted by the Commission in recent times.
Tigidi, who is a former Andhra Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary, would be retiring in December this year.