Committee to study roster system; all job adverts on hold

SHILLONG, May 19: The state government has decided to constitute a committee to study the roster system and put on hold all adverts for new recruitment till it submits its report.
After an all-party meeting on the roster system on Friday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma told reporters that the government has proposed to set up the committee to address concerns.
“…the committee…will be chaired by our Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and members from different political parties will be on it so that we can allow them to seek a clarification and give further suggestions on how we should move forward,” Sangma said.
“We are coming up with the terms of references and the same will be very short and quick because we have discussed most of the issues today. I am pretty sure that more than 80-90% of the issues have been addressed. But as it is a sensitive topic, we feel it is important to discuss, take everybody into confidence and move forward. Hence, we have decided to come up with the committee,” the CM said.
He said the members of various political parties had requested that till the committee gives its report, new advertisements for recruitment should be kept on hold.
“Based on it, we have agreed that we will keep things on hold till the committee is satisfied and gives us a final report. We expect the final discussions to be happening in a very short time. We will be coming up with the terms of references,” Sangma said.
On ongoing recruitment process, he said, “It has started. The youth have given exams and interviews and they are waiting (for results). And for that, normal procedure will follow.”
He said most political parties are satisfied with the presentation. Concerns have been raised and some clarifications sought, he said.
“We have clarified most points. Certain clarifications, like whether or not this system will apply in the education sector, were sought. We have clarified that the roster is meant for direct recruitment and not to be implemented for education, in a sense for different seats that are there in different institutions in the country,” Sangma said.
He said all appointments and decisions made in the past were as per the reservation policy and are legally binding on the government. He said, therefore, the question of going back and cancelling those does not arise.
“A certain political party asked us to discuss issues apart from roster. It stressed that since the discussion was on roster, reservation should be discussed. We made it very clear that the discussion is on the roster system and not beyond that,” the CM said.
“Next one week, we will meet different civil society stakeholders at different levels. We are calling joint and individual meetings of all stakeholders on May 30 and 31. We have asked one of our officials to ensure that all necessary explanations are given to different stakeholders,” he added.