Govt decides to put on hold new job recruitment till committee submits report on roster system: Meghalaya CM

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 19, 2023

The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government on Friday decided to constitute a committee on roster system even as it announced putting on hold all new job recruitment till final discussion on the matter is arrived at. 

The decision was taken after an All-Party meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma at the Secretariat here. 

Leaders of both ruling and opposition political parties attended the meeting. 

Leaders of the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) and the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) staged a walkout as a mark of protest against the government’s failure to discuss the need to review the reservation policy.

After the meeting, Sangma informed that the committee will be headed by the Minister in-charge Health and Family Welfare Ampareen Lyngdoh. 

This was after concerns have been raised and some clarifications have been sought by political parties on the roster system following the presentation given to them after the meeting. 

“Hence, we have decided that in order to ensure that all the different concerns that are there are clarified, a committee is proposed to be set up which will be chaired by the health minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and different members from different political parties will be in it,” Sangma told reporters.

“We will allow them to seek clarification and give further suggestions on how they propose or suggest that we should move forward,” he added. 

The chief minister also announced that the state government has agreed to request of the political parties to put on hold all the new job recruitments till the committee submits its report on the roster system. 

“We have agreed to that as a government that we will keep things on hold till the committee is satisfied and give us a final report and a final discussion which we expect it to be happening in a very, very short time,” he said. 

He informed that the government will immediately come up with the terms and referrences and the committee will be sitting very soon.

The CM however said after detailed discussion and presentation were given, most of the political parties have expressed that they satisfied with the discussion on the roster. 

Sangma further said that clarification was also made in connection with the education sector on whether the roster system is applicable or not. 

“We have clarified that the roster is meant for job recruitment only and hence it is not meant to be implemented for education purposes in the sense for different seats in different education institutions across the country,” he maintained. 

Also clarifying that the government has no intention to implement the roster system right from 1972, the chief minister said the matter was explained to all political parties during the presentation.

“I would like to clarify now today that all the appointments that were made in the past and all decisions that were taken were taken as per the reservation policy and hence, they are completely and legally binding on the government. Hence, the question of us going back and looking at it and cancelling or making adjustments does not arise. Therefore, these were done and appointed based on the reservation policy. And now after information and data has been plotted, we are now in a position in some of the departments to understand on how we are going to move forward.” 

When asked, Sangma said, “We have explained to everybody that the roster system is a continuous process. It starts from 1972 and it continues. It is important for us to understand this starting point because it allows us to understand where we are in the roster today.” 

“But while we say that we also have to remember that in the past 50 years, whatever has happened in the recruitment process which were plotted in the roster system is something that is being done based on the reservation policy and based on the rules of the reservation policy. Hence, for us today to go back into the facts and figures and go back into the appointments being made and the process that was done is not possible for us to go back and make changes into it. Hence, the data and information allow us to plot and understand where we stand in the sequence but as I said the option and concern that we will go back and change things in the past does not arise,” he reiterated.

Further, the chief minister informed that during the meeting, there were also certain political parties that have asked and stressed to discuss on different issues apart from the roster and they stressed that since the discussion was on reservation roster, they urged that reservation should be discussed and said, “We made it very clear to them that this discussion that we are having today is on the roster system and the reason the word reservation is there because it is the roster on the reservation and hence, the discussion was limited only to the roster system and not beyond that.” 

To another query, Sangma said that the committee will be very short and quick since most of the issues have been discussed today. 

“Since it is a sensitive topic, we as a government felt it is important to reach out, to discuss and it is important to take everybody into confidence before we move forward and hence, we have decided to come up with this committee,” he added.