By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: East Khasi Hills Qualified and Unemployed Grade IV Association 2011 has given a four-day deadline to the State Government starting from Thursday to extend the period of the merit list of the qualified candidates who are eligible for appointment to the various posts under Grade IV.
The association has threatened that they would be compelled to take some drastic steps if the Government failed to comply with their demands.
“We are left with no option but to give this four-day deadline. This decision to scrap the merit list would deny hundreds of the qualified unemployed youth from getting an employment,” East Khasi Hills Qualified and Unemployed Grade IV Association 2011 president AB Kurbah said while addressing a press conference here on Thursday.
According to Kurbah, there are many qualified candidates who have now crossed the prescribed age limit to apply for any Government job while adding that this is the only hope of getting a job.
“The Government would do injustice to many of us who have cleared the examination through a proper channel if they scrap the merit list,” he said.
Kurbah said, “The Government had claimed that they had to scrap this merit list in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling in January 27 this year. The fact is that the apex court ruling which the Government is referring has no binding on the merit list announced by the DSC.”
As per the ruling, Kurbah said that the apex court had stated that the Government cannot recommend for appointments beyond the number of posts which have been advertised.
“Taking this fact into consideration, the Supreme Court ruling which the Government is referring has no binding on the merit list announced by the DSC. In the original advertisements, the DSC has not mentioned the number of vacancies which is to be recruited,” East Khasi Hills Qualified and Unemployed Grade VI Association 2011 president said while adding that the apex court ruling also came after the DSC had declared the merit list.
It may be mentioned that the DSC had declared the result on October 28 2011.
According to Kurbah, the convention which is being followed in the past is that the DSC would call for a fresh interview only after all the candidates in the merit list get the appointment.
“This convention is being followed by all the DSCs in the different districts of the State,” he said.
Association of Qualified Grade IV candidate’2011 president said that the DSC had recommended to the State Government for an extension of the period of the merit list by another six months.
“Instead of approving the extension, the Government indicated that they would scrap the merit list,” Kurbah said.
When asked how many candidates has been appointment so far, he said that out of the 331 qualified candidates in the merit list, only 122 candidates have got the appointment while also informing that there are another 209 candidates who are yet to get an appointment.
According to the East Khasi Hills Qualified and Unemployed Grade VI Association 2011 president, they had approach Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma to express their grievances.
‘But sadly even the Chief Minister was non committal to come to their rescue. In fact, he was blaming his officers for making a mistake by passing so many candidates,” he said.
Kurbah informed that they have also met Chief Secretary WMS Pariat to discuss the matter.
“The Chief Secretary referred to the Supreme Court ruling which is prevented the Government to approve the extension,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kurbah informed that the association had filed an RTI in various Government departments to know the number of vacancies which are available.
“As per the RTI documents which they received, they have found that there are 200 plus vacancies in the various Government departments. They have submitted the list of these 200 plus vacancies to both the DSC and Government,” he informed. When asked if the Government had sought any clarification from these departments about these vacancies, Kurbah said that they have no information if the Government had sought any clarification on these 200 plus vacancies.