TURA: The inclusion of a non-tribal in the list of Other Scheduled Tribe (OST)/Scheduled Caste category for undergoing BVSc & A H Degree Course has irked several minority tribal bodies which submitted a joint memorandum to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma urging his immediate intervention in the matter.
The female candidate who neither belonged to the Koch tribe or the Scheduled Tribe was placed under serial number 1 in the list of Other Scheduled Tribes (OST)/Scheduled Caste category for undergoing the said degree course under Central Agriculture University (CAU), Imphal, Manipur or Assam Agriculture University Jorhat, Assam for the year 2020-21.
Minority Tribal bodies including the Meghalaya Koch Association (MKA), Meghalaya Koch Students’ Union (MKSU) and the Meghalaya Hajong Welfare Association (MHWA) urged the Chief Minister to intervene immediately and cancel the candidature of the non-tribal candidate.
“If she proves herself to be a member of the Koch tribe or other scheduled tribe by producing a caste certificate, she has obtained the same by dubious means,” the President of MKA, Dharmeswar Koch claimed.
The organizations further claimed that an RTI was also earlier filed with regard to the candidate’s caste certificate (No. NGHD/GENL/B-1/929078, Dated Resubelpara, the 19th June, 2015) to which, no information was provided by the concerned authority even after the expiry of thirty days, the maximum period for the process.
Interestingly, according to the organizations, the same candidate had earlier also been selected for undergoing a 4 year Degree course of BSc (Hons) Agriculture at the College of Agriculture, Imphal under CAU for the academic session 2020-21.
The organizations pointed out that the selection of the said candidate under the category was illegal and also affected the chances of other deserving candidates.
“The selection of a non-tribal candidate in a reserved category has deprived the deserving candidates of their rights and opportunities. Her inclusion in the list defeats the spirit of the Constitution of India and we urge you to immediately cancel her candidature,” the organizations demanded.
