SHILLONG, March 16: The state All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) on Wednesday called the attention of the Assembly to the purported discrepancies in the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) and District Selection Committee (DSC) recruitment process, while calling upon the state government to review the alleged anomalies and introduce the required change.
Raising the zero hour discussion based on a news report titled ‘Aspirants allege anomalies in MPSC DSC recruitments’, that appeared in The Shillong Times on October 24, 2017, AITC legislator from Mawsynram, HM Shangpliang, pointed to a list of alleged discrepancies in the mode of appointment of the MPSC and DSC.
He drew the attention of the House to the irregularities in the conduct of the preliminary examination for recruitment to the 38 vacant posts of Meghalaya Civil Service (MCS) Junior Grade in 2017.
The Opposition MLA noted that the MPSC had set different cut-off marks for the Schedule Tribes (STs) of the state — 208 marks for Khasi and Jaintia candidates and 188 for Garo candidates.
He then told the House that states like Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim mention the cut-off marks prior to the conduct of written exams.
Shangpliang suggested that the MPSC should adopt the system of uploading the marks obtained by candidates in both written test and personal interview online.
He said that Meghalaya is the only state which does not upload the previous years’ question papers pertaining to all MPSC exams, even as he brought to everyone’s attention that all the other Northeastern states upload the previous years’ question papers regularly.
Raising the matter of the delay in conduct of MPSC exams, the Mawsynram MLA said vacancy to the post of typist was advertised in April 2016 but the screening was completed only recently, after six years.
He added that the vacancy to the post of Inspector of Taxes was advertised in April 2017, but the recruitment materialised in December 2021, while recruitment to the post of Lower Division Assistant (LDA), advertised in July 2019, has had no announcements with regard to the conduct of the exam till date.
The MLA also pointed out that contrary to the MPSC order on the selection criteria mandatorily being written exam and screening test only, the Commission, nonetheless, decided in a meeting in 2019 to conduct personal interview without written test. Thereafter, he told the house that 28 lecturers for government colleges, out of 563 candidates, were selected through direct personal interview. Similarly, 40 assistant lecturers of government higher secondary schools were selected out of 163 candidates; 60 medical and health officers out of 179 were also selected via direct interview.
The MLA questioned as to how the merit of candidate was decided using the criterion of personal interview only.
Alleging that the MPSC office does not even have service rule, Shangpliang requested the state government to review the functioning of the MPSC and usher in a change for the larger interest of the youths of the state and welfare of the officers and staff of the MPSC.
Shifting focus to the District Selection Committee, he raised the issue of postponement of exams by the Committee in the past.
“We preach about good governance transparency and justice but this all needs deliverance and performance and not just mere talks,” Shangpliang said.
Highlighting the newspaper report, the AITC MLA said that there were complaints about students using unfair means during exams, which, he feels, reveals the lack of efficiency and strictness in the conduct of examinations.
Picking holes in the application process of exams on the basis of complaints that some districts were not permitted to apply for DSC exams while others could, Shangpliang revealed that candidates from Ri-Bhoi district were not given preference while applying for the DSC exam in some of the districts like East Khasi Hills.
He has asked the DSC to follow fair practice.
In reply, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that the opposition is flagging an issue from 2017 when the present dispensation had not even come to power.
Nonetheless, the CM appreciated the concerns aired by the AITC MLA for the better functioning of the MPSC.
He said that the government has also discussed the matter of making reforms and improving the overall functioning of the Commission.
The CM also made it clear that the MPSC was an autonomous body and it was not possible for the government to interfere in the terms and conditions laid out for various examinations conducted by the Commission.
He also assured that the government will recommend a set of suggestions to improve the functioning of the MPSC and to do away with any scope for malpractice in the recruitment system.