SHILLONG, Aug 22: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Thursday appealed to legislators from both ruling and opposition parties to adopt a unanimous stand on the issue of revamping the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC).
The appeal was made on the eve of the autumn session of the Assembly.
The KSU handed over a memorandum on the 20-point reformative steps for revamping the MPSC to the leaders of various political parties.
“We would want to see that there is no division among the 59 MLAs and there is a united voice in the Assembly to impress upon the state government on the need to revamp the MPSC,” KSU employment monitoring cell chairman Reuben Najiar said addressing a press conference at the Shillong Press Club.
He asked why there are no proper recruitment rules in Meghalaya that attained statehood more than 50 years ago.
“We would like to know if the Commission or the legislators elected by the people are not aware of this,” Najiar said.
According to him, one cannot expect clean and corruption-free governance if there is no transparency in the recruitment process.
He said candidates have levelled allegations from time to time that they will need to give bribes or they have to be recommended by influential people or people in power to be selected in the recruitment tests conducted by the MPSC.
“It is really sad that many qualified and deserving youths are denied jobs in various government departments since they do not have any support or backup,” Najiar said.
He stressed that there should be accountability in the Commission during any recruitment process.
Najiar said they attached papers in the memorandum submitted to the political leaders, highlighting that the public service commission in various states of the Northeast such as Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Assam are headed by a civil servant.
He lamented that political appointees who are not qualified head the MPSC.
He said they have submitted papers to show how the Commission in Arunachal Pradesh had displayed the marks of the candidates secured in the interview and the written test.
“Why is the Commission here reluctant to display the marks if it claims that there is transparency in recruitment?” the KSU leader asked. He mentioned that they had recently agitated after questions were raised on the process of recruitment to fill up vacant posts of the Meghalaya Civil Services.
“We witnessed glaring discrepancies after the marks of the candidates were displayed. We can expect similar irregularities and discrepancies if we are not able to revamp the Commission,” Najiar added.
The KSU on Thursday first handed over the memorandum to Trinamool Congress state president Charles Pyngrope. Later, the document was handed over to National People’s Party state working president Hamletson Dohling, Voice of the People Party vice president Batskhem Myrboh, United Democratic Party general secretary Jemino Mawthoh and BJP legislator Sanbor Shullai.
