Tura, Feb 22: The Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) from Garo Hills on Monday alleged irregularities in the recent declaration of results of a job interview conducted by the District Selection Committee (DSC) in West Garo Hills.
It has also demanded that the appointment of successful candidates to vacant posts be stalled for the time being.
The job interview in question is the personal interview for the post of Grade IV and Lower Division Assistant (LDA) under various governments departments under West Garo Hills. While the Grade IV results were declared on February 5, the results for LDA were declared on February 16.
In their complaint to the Chairman of the DSC, the Federation alleged that the general category has been manipulated in such a way that not a single Garo candidate was among the list and all those successful candidates belonged to the non-tribal community.
“The general category is not a reserved category for the non-tribal community but the seats should be allotted solely based on the merits of the individual candidates regardless of their caste, tribe, and community — that is what the Meghalaya Job Reservation Policy clearly dictates. However, we felt the District Selection Committee, West Garo Hills, may have misread or misinterpreted the guidelines of the Meghalaya Job Reservation Policy either inadvertently or intentionally, although we suspect the latter to be more accurate,” president of the federation, Pritam Arengh, said, adding that the results would have been different if the true principles of the job reservation policy were followed.
Arengh has not only demanded that the appointment process for the said posts be put on hold for the time being but has also called for re-evaluation for the general category. He has also demanded an inquiry into the anomalies and sought action against those responsible.
“The FKJGP has sworn to protect the Rights of the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo people and will not hesitate to go to any lengths to protect the rights of these sister-tribes from being trampled upon. We urge you to do the necessary at the earliest, failing which we will be compelled to resort to other forms of protests,” Arengh said.