By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: As predicted by a section of NGOs the State Government has on Friday issued an appointment letter to recently retired Additional Director of Social Welfare department, LN Jyrwa, for the post of Mission Director for the Meghalaya State Women Resource Centre. The post, the NGO had alleged, was tailor made for Jyrwa.
This is another case of reappointment of a retired official by the MUA Government.
On Friday the Government declared the results of the interview conducted for the post and appointed Jyrwa as the Mission Director out of the four applicants who had appeared for the interview on July 30.
Recently, the CSWO (Agnes Kharshiing faction) had alleged that the advertisement for the post was notified without any upper age limit which was conveniently tailored to fit LN Jyrwa to a ‘t’. Defending his stand in the appointment Social Welfare Director HM Shangpliang told The Shillong Times here on Friday that this post is contractual and that there is nothing called the ‘upper age limit’.
Shangpliang further said, “I am interested in better delivery of the work and for this to happen we need an experienced person in the field.”
The CSWO (A) has alleged that this happened at the behest of the Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Dept, NS Samant, who has used his clout to re-employ a retired person, thereby misusing his position and granting a personal favour to a retired official.
According to Agnes Kharshiing, Samant had written to the Centre to relax the norms to enable Jyrwa to be re-employed on the plea that there are no suitable candidates in the State without making any advertisement.
“The Principal Secretary has misused his position and given personal favour to LN Jyrwa without thinking of the other deserving candidates who had applied for the post,” she said.
Reacting to this, NS Samant said the post is purely a contractual post of one year and the letter was sent to the ministry by the State Government on the plea that an experienced person is needed to run the centre.
“On the letter sent by the Directorate, the State Government had written to the Centre to relax the norms and since this is a contractual post, the question of extension of services of a retired person does not arise,” Samant told this scribe.
Meanwhile, the CSWO(A) has demanded that the entire matter be enquired by a central team as this is a centrally-sponsored scheme, while threatening to take the matter to court on grounds that the department on its own has written to Delhi seeking a change in the criteria for selecting a Mission Director.
While pointing out that the re-employment of retired persons has become a trend, the CSWO president has demanded the State Government to make fresh advertisement as per guidelines of the Government of India.
