SHILLONG: LM Sangma, the outgoing chairman of Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC), said on Wednesday, a day before his retirement, that the commission has decided to conduct examinations and interviews under CCTV camera surveillance.
Talking to The Shillong Times on Wednesday at his office in the new MPSC building, Sangma said the new building has four exam halls with a total capacity of 150. There are no CCTV cameras yet but “we have already discussed about it with the government and it will be done” following a directive of the Supreme Court.
Earlier, the commission had to struggle for space for the large number of candidates appearing for examinations and depend on school buildings.
MPSC has not only got a new building but Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is also working on decentralising the commission for “better performance”.
But a glitch remains. Sangma said post-decentralisation, MPSC can conduct written examinations online but interviews have to be done in person because neither the commission nor the state has the infrastructure to do so. “MPSC has a unit in Tura and we can utilise it,” said Sangma, but immediately added that the district cells of MPSC are currently non-functional.
There are about 30 examinations pending for hundreds of posts in various government departments.
Another problem that the commission faces is the lack of paper setters and evaluators for special subjects in the state. “We have to hire experts from outside for setting questions and evaluation. We have to be careful while choosing someone for the tasks and this too delays the work. There are many factors which act as deterrent and yet many people demand transparency. We are doing our best,” said Sangma, who would not think twice before making a call to an MPSC candidate in a remote area to inform about interview date.
About transparency, Sangma said, “The issue of transparency was raised several times but I do not have anything to say. There are multiple layers (in our working procedure) and with a large number of candidates appearing for the exams, I do not know what to say about transparency.”
Sangma, who joined the commission in August 2016, will retire as the chairman of MPSC on Thursday after serving in the commission for over three years and nine months. During his tenure, he introduced ‘answer script review’ as sought by the candidates and reduced the five to six-year backlog of examinations to less than three years.
“I introduced the system of candidates checking their marks. The process is simple. Candidates have to apply for review and it will be done,” he said.
When Sangma took charge of MPSC, it was already tangled in a web of problems. But “I tried to detangle it and the first thing I did was to reduce the backlog of examinations to at least 2.5 years”.
There were, and are still, hurdles and one of the key issues is lack of a dedicated IT cell. “We have proposed to the government to have an IT cell of the MPSC so that there is no delay in the working of the commission. A dedicated IT cell will not only make things transparent but also help us avoid inordinate delays,” said Sangma.
This will also help candidates check examination and interview dates updated in the website.
