SHILLONG, March 31: Senior advocate VGK Kynta on Friday said the state government cannot implement the reservation roster system retrospectively.
He said the Supreme Court was clear that any policy cannot be retrospective and the roster system should be implemented prospectively.
“We cannot look back at the past,” he told The Shillong Times.
He said the Meghalaya government cannot go against the February 1995 judgement of the apex court in the case of RK Sabharwal versus the state of Punjab. He also pointed out that the High Court of Meghalaya had asked the first MDA government why there was no reservation roster.
“In compliance with the high court directive, the state government came up with an office memorandum on May 10, 2022, putting in place a roster system according to the reservation policy of 1972,” Kynta said.
This roster system will take effect from the time the 1972 police came into effect and the hue and cry is because there is a backlog of the Garo community from 1972 to 2022, he said.
“The 1972 policy says posts not filled up will lapse or will not be carried beyond a maximum of two years. This office memorandum can undo the part where the policy mentions that the backlog will lapse,” he said.
Kynta said he agrees with the argument of some pressure groups and the people at large that if the office memorandum is implemented in letter and spirit, the Khasi-Jaintia people may no longer get employment. The effect would be disastrous for the two communities, he feared.
“The office memorandum was prepared without proper examination and weighing the pros and cons. The government must rectify or correct it and make the 2022 reservation roster prospective, not retrospective,” he said.
On the government’s suggestion that anyone with grievances over the roster system should go to court, Kynta said there should not be any rush for legal recourse as the matter can be resolved politically. All it needs is the removal of “certain paragraphs and offending clauses” from the office memorandum, he added.
Insisting that he is not trying to stoke any law-and-order situation, Kynta said he wants the issue to be resolved peacefully so that Khasi and Jaintia candidates are not deprived of chances to get limited government jobs.
Kynta felt the government should not have rushed to come out with the roster system just because there was a court directive since the state did not have one for the last 50 years.
While seeking a corrected office memorandum, he said the ratio for reservation among the communities should be as provided in the 1972 policy. But he referred to demands for bringing down the quota for the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia people to 50%. “We can then ensure competition among the three major tribes for employment on merit,” he said.
