SHILLONG, June 19: Law Minister and chairperson of the ‘Reservation Roster System’ committee, Ampareen Lyngdoh on Monday hailed the state government for issuing the new Office Memorandum (OM) on the application of roster reservation.
She told reporters the new OM has been issued keeping in mind the interests of the people of the state.
The statement from her came soon after the government had lifted the ban on new advertisements for recruitment.
Lyngdoh said the Search Committee, formed by the government to identify members of the Expert Committee for reviewing the State Reservation Policy, 1972 and studying the OM on roster, was asked to submit its suggestions by Monday ((June 19).
She said the political parties were also given time till Monday to submit their queries to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma or Chief Secretary DP Wahlang who heads the Search Committee.
She said they will consolidate all these materials and look at queries put forward because before calling an Expert Committee, the government believes that it must understand the questions of various sectors who will seek information on the latest mind of the government on the evaluation and review of the reservation policy.
Meanwhile, the KHNAM said a comparison of the OM, dated May 10, 2022, and the latest one dated June 14, 2023, shows that the main contents are more or less the same although some changes were made in the amended OM.
“One notable change is the deletion of the words ‘…details of backlog reserved vacancies…’ from Para B-6 and another is the addition of the words ‘…the names of all persons holding the post as on the date of notification of this OM starting with the earliest appointee where only the data wherever available…’ at Para D-1,” KHNAM said.
The party said both the changes are ambiguous as the earlier is not specific about the non-existence of reserved backlog posts while the latter mentions about the available data whereas the fact is there are no proper and reliable data for all the direct appointments made from 1972 to 2022.
“Again, the new OM does not state that the roster system will take effect from May 10, 2022 in conformity with the decision taken during the meetings of all political parties held on two occasions. Therefore, it appears that the government is hiding something on the true nature of the reservation roster system that is going to be implemented. Further, since there is no mention anywhere about the cut-off date of implementation of the roster system, it is proper to say that this cannot be a prospective roster,” the party claimed.
“We would like to question leaders of other political parties like Congress, TMC, HSPDP and UDP, who were fully satisfied with the government’s presentation on the roster, as to whether they are ready to be accountable for the retrospective type of roster system implemented by the NPP-led MDA government. These political parties should rather go for self-introspection to find out whether they are the partners or the subjects of the NPP-led government,” the KHNAM added.
