By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 26: NPP state president and Rajya Sabha member, WR Kharlukhi on Sunday said the roster system is a ruling of the High Court of Meghalaya and those against it are questioning the judiciary.
“The government cannot do anything about this ruling of the high court. They are questioning the court’s ruling,” he said with reference to the threat of the Voice of the People’s Party (VPP) to hit the streets for not getting the space to take up the roster system in the ongoing budget session of the Meghalaya Assembly.
Pointing out that the issue of the roster system came up when someone went to court after a political leader raised the issue, Kharlukhi said, “Unknowingly, he is opening Pandora’s box.”
He reiterated the stand of Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma that the roster system was drawn up according to the directive of the high court. “I fully agree with the CM that any issue is with the court and the party (NPP) has nothing to do with it,” he said.
The controversy over the roster system in the state’s job quota arose after the VPP criticised it and the Chief Minister defended it.
“The roster system was created by sticking to the basics of the state reservation policy,” Kharlukhi said.
It may be added here that the VPP has decided to hit the streets to highlight how the implementation of roster system in Meghalaya has affected the educated unemployed youth in Khasi and Jaintia Hills.
VPP chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit had recently said that the party is left with no other option as the government is not giving any opportunity to discuss the issue in the Assembly.
“We will seek the confidence of youth and general public on this very important issue. We will not allow our youth to suffer due to the roster system,” Basaiawmoit said, expressing unhappiness on Speaker Thomas A. Sangma’s decision to conclude the House proceedings for the day on Friday without hearing the members of the Opposition.
According to him, the Speaker should have sought suggestions from the Opposition whether to extend or stick to the timing according to the calendar.
The VPP president said this is the first time that the budget session is being held for seven days and only two of those are reserved for private member’s business. It is totally unacceptable to restrict the timing only to ten minutes for the members to take part in the debate on the Governor’s address, he said.