SHILLONG, March 31: The A’chik Holistic Awakening Movement (AHAM) has urged the leaders and pressure groups of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region to accept and respect the verdict of the court on the roster system since it is for the benefit of the people of Meghalaya as a whole.
Referring to the April 5, 2022, order of the High Court of Meghalaya, AHAM president G. Momin said the court stayed further appointments until the roster system was put in place. “The court also directed that the rosters be prepared for all posts after applying the reservation policy while saying recruitment in the future can be conducted by adhering to the ratio of reservation,” he said.
A reading of the high court order indicates that the reservation policy has not been properly implemented in Meghalaya due to the absence of the roster system,” he said.
Many genuine candidates from the reserved category have been deprived of jobs due to the improper implantation of the reservation policy, Momin said.
He also pointed to the high court’s indication that the absence of a roster system created room for nepotism, arbitrariness, irregularities, manipulation, and political favouritism in the recruitment process.
The AHAM president said the state government issued an office memorandum on May 10, 2022, for the maintenance of the reservation roster responding to the court directive.
“Para 6 of the office memorandum reads that after every recruitment cycle, an account shall be noted in the reservation roster indicating the representation of Khasi and Jaintia, Garo, other STs and SCs and details of backlog reserved vacancies, which will be carried forward to the next recruitment cycle,” he said.
Momin further said para 7 of the office memorandum also clearly mentions that the reservation roster is only to ensure the implementation of the reservation policy, which means the roster system is a mechanism or instrument or system or tool for the implementation of the reservation policy.
He said the state’s Advocate General submitted and acknowledged before the division bench at the time of hearing that reservation cannot be implemented without a roster and referred to a relevant 1995 Constitution Bench judgment in the case of RK Sabharwal versus the state of Punjab.
“We are of the view that there is nothing wrong in the order passed by the high court directing the state government to prepare the roster system for the proper implementation of the reservation policy in Meghalaya. The judiciary is independent and the government has to implement its order by putting the roster system in place to implement the reservation policy effectively and meaningfully,” Momin said.
