By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 19: The Khasi Students’ Union Employment Monitoring Cell (EMC) on Thursday petitioned Chief Secretary, DP Wahlang on the alleged discrepancies in the MCS mains result and typist recruitment process conducted by the Meghalaya Public Service Commission.
In the letter addressed to Wahlang, KSU EMC chairman Reuben Najiar said the union and the people have been asking the MPSC to come clean on its recruitment process. He said the Commission claims to be transparent but continues to falter in its recruitment process and cause inconvenience for the aspirants.
Najiar said the state government established a “committee” to revamp the MPSC but it has been taking its time to review the process of reforming the Commission as suggested by the union in its 20-point charter of demands.
Najiar said the Commission is trying to brush aside all its “malicious” deeds before the committee can come to any conclusion and any changes can be effected.
He said this is evident from the results of the mains examination of the Meghalaya Civil Services (MCS). The results declared on December 6 were shrouded in an air of ambiguity and caused uncertainty among the applicants.
He said 89 candidates were selected for the personal interview and at least nine of them were selected from an additional list. He insisted the union understands that it was not the fault of the nine that they were not selected initially by the “incompetent” Commission.
“The candidates claim that it would have been difficult for those in the additional list to pass the examination as they were given a short time to prepare but it seems that out of 580, the percentage of candidates who cleared the mains is higher from the additional list than the original list,” Najiar said.
He said the union has been following the discrepancies after receiving numerous complaints. He added that several candidates were denied permission to know the cut-off marks and view their marks.
He said some candidates filed RTIs but their applications were not accepted. They were also asked to desist from filing RTIs.
“In some cases, the candidates were asked to change their RTI questions and were told the replies would be provided to them after their interviews were over,” Najiar said.
He said the union fails to understand why the Commission is reluctant to declare the marks of the candidates and the cut-off marks for the selection for interview.
“The only reason could be that they are involved in malpractice. The Commission cannot give the excuse that declaring marks would affect the interviews because the examination not only concerns the candidates but also the faith of all future aspirants in fair and transparent selection,” he said.
Najiar said the union would like Wahlang to initiate steps so that the Commission declares the marks of all the candidates, declare the cut-off marks and also the candidates would be able to view their answer sheets for self-assessment.
The KSU EMC said the Commission needs to clear the air about the much-delayed recruitment of typists (HOD). It reiterated the recruitment should be based on the existing Meghalaya Directorate Establishment (Ministerial) Service Rules, 2010.
Najiar said the Commission should not enforce its bend rules to favour any candidates, adding that the union does not see any reason to engage in any dialogue with the Commission on the two issues.
“We want the Commission to come clean on the above matters and go for reforms so that the union can engage in productive dialogues in future and not take any aggressive steps to ensure fair and transparent recruitment,” he said.