That the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) has been corroded beyond repair is a fact that must be owned up by the present Government which has, by its negligence of an important Commission meant to attract the best minds for governing the state, turned it instead into a contraption that is well past its date for the rot has eaten up its vitals. What remains is only the crust bearing its name – a name that inspires no confidence and has failed successive generations of Meghalayans for decades. The rot that plagued this institution started in its early stages and that is clearly visible from the poor governance especially in the far-flung villages. Some of the products of the MPSC are known to have feathered their nests well even while those so-called beneficiaries or recipients of the governance system have become poorer and disempowered. Some noble exceptions are there but they are too few to make a dent in a system that is entrenched in corruption and nepotism.
Transparency is a strange word in Meghalaya. No one believes in it, least of all those in governance and politics. The Right to Information (RTI) institution has succeeded only up to a point. The MPSC uses certain clauses to deny information to those who seek to know their marks and the marks of other candidates just so they know they were not unjustly marked. The MPSC has been known to use Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act, which says the Commission is not under obligation to furnish the information disclosure. Ironically Section 8(1) (a) of the RTI Act states that information can be denied if it could prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence. How can any of the above clauses apply to someone seeking information on the marks secured in a competitive examination where candidates seek to know how they scored low marks when they had managed to answer the questions correctly? There are instances of MPSC members who did not recuse themselves when their own kith and kin were being interviewed.
Some candidates still carry the scars of seeing their answers marked wrong when they were actually correct. The reason why candidates don’t approach the judiciary is because they lack the wherewithal to engage lawyers and because it would be a long-drawn affair. The only way to overhaul the MPSC is for the Government to constitute a Search and Selection Committee comprising one member each from the ruling and opposition parties (since most appointees thus far have been politically handpicked) some civil society members and retired IAS officers, to identify members of the Commission. The Khasi Students’ Union has given a 20-point charter of demands for cleaning up the MPSC. The Government should take note of those demands. We are a democracy and that necessarily means there must be accountability which is only possible if there is openness and transparency. The youth of Meghalaya deserve a Public Service Commission that can identify the best brains to render public service.
