Ruckus over ‘anomalies’ in recruitment

NONGSTOIN: The applicants for the post of demonstrator refused to take part in the physical test conducted by the district selection committee of West Khasi Hills on Thursday alleging anomalies in the interview phase.
More than 200 youths gathered at the office of the deputy commissioner and shot a letter to the secretary of the selection committee demanding repeat of the physical examination.
Sylvestar Dkhar, one of the candidates for the job, alleged that the district selection committee did not conduct the interview properly. He also alleged that in other districts and blocks, women were allowed to apply for the post but in West Khasi Hills, women candidates were refused.
“There are only four vacancies for the demonstrator’s post and more than 4,000 had applied. But without clearing the written test results, the committee announced the physical test, which is against the rule, because only those candidates who cleared the written test can take part in the physical test,” he said.
The physical examination is the final qualification step for recruitment.
Sylvestar also said the committee should have sent letters to successful applicants or published in newspapers about the physical test for more than a week. “Instead, they published about the test only one day in a local newspaper, which is totally misconduct. Only 200 of the 4,000 candidates could come on Thursday,” he added.
The candidates also alleged that the physical test was just a formality since the committee did not check even the admit cards.
When told about the allegations, the secretary of the district selection committee, B. Ranee, rebutted the claims saying it was at the committee’s discretion whether to conduct the written test first or the physical test.
She also said in the advertisement published in the newspaper, “the committee did not mention specifically that the post will be applied only to male, but anyone could apply”.
“The DSC has the records of all candidates who applied for the job and they cannot fake their identity whether with or without admit cards,” she added.