Nurses of Meghalaya demands Govt to institute independent judicial inquiry into irregularities in recruitment process

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaOctober 9, 2024

Unsuccessful candidates under the banner of Nurses of Meghalaya on Tuesday demanded the state government to institute an independent judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities and anomalies in the recently declared results for the staff nurse and ANM examination.

In a letter to the Director Meghalaya Medical Service Recruitment Board (MMSRB), the nurses, whose names have not appeared in the results declared recently said, “These serious discrepancies and negligence in the whole recruitment process has resulted in extreme outrage of the nursing job aspirants. We strongly condemned such negligence acts, which will hamper the smooth functioning in health services delivery systems in the state.”

“Based on the above facts and circumstances, we therefore demand…to scrap the entire recruitment of staff nurse (and) to initiate an independent judicial enquiry and fix responsibility on persons indulging in this illegal act,” they said while adding “We hope our memorandum is taken seriously, as it reflects the sentiments of the majority. Therefore, we strongly urged for immediate consideration to prevent chaos for the harmony of the entire state.”

The nurses also recalled the recent memorandum submitted and the meetings held on July 19 and July 24 in the presence of minister inchrage health.

“We have requested and agreed upon that the minutes of the meetings will be circulated to us but the same were not circulated or supplied to us till date. However, in the above stated meetings, certain decisions were taken and finalised verbally to ensure transparency in all examinations be it at directorate level, district level or any health recruitment process related to staff nurses. These are: merit based recruitment, high security measures during examination, public notice of qualified and unqualified candidates including absentees with complete details of roll numbers, names, marks obtained, category in sequential order and declaration of results within 72 hours. But, we were misled and deceived…,” they said.

Further pointing out the alleged multiple anomalies in the results of the recruitment examination held on September 21, the nurses in the letter stated, “Firstly, 13 questions were asked out of the given syllabus. In the Set-A booklet question numbers 41 and 52 and 60 were not the part and parcel of the given syllabus. This is highly illegal and unacceptable and is an attempt to deny the candidates an opportunity to score marks in the given examination. Secondly, some questions asked were not clear and irrelevant with given options or answer itself are wrong according to answer keys given. Thirdly, the results were declared after 118 hours.”

They continued: “Fourthly, the first result declared on September 28 (morning) was analysed as follows: only few selected roll numbers, date and time of physical verification displayed in a sequential order and roll numbers 5126 and 5180 are repeated twice.

Fifthly, second results declared on September 28 (evening) were analysed as follows: only few roll numbers, marks secured, category, date and time of physical verification displayed in a non-sequential order. 46 extra roll numbers were added. Six roll numbers were repeated under second categories with different dates and timings of physical verification. Some roll number verification years are 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2030.

Sixthly, after the follow-up meeting held on September 30, with the health minister in her chamber, third results were declared. Third results was analysed as follows: All the roll numbers with marks secured displayed in a non-sequential order without displaying the candidates name and category. The absentees were not disclosed.

Seventhly, favouring non-domicile candidates leads to an employment crisis for the domiciled.” 

Speaking to media persons, one of the candidates, Lurstep Nongrum, said that they have also demanded that there should be an inquiry into the discrepancy in the declaration of results for the post of Staff Nurse and ANM and to also take action against those involved in the discrepancy.

Nongrum questioned the MMSRB by saying, “Why have to announce the result of the same examination three times” and added, “This has created doubts in the minds of the candidates who appeared in the examination”.

He also demanded that the Health and Family department and the MMSRB should clarify the declaration of 22 names out of 26 candidates who secured same marks in the examination.

“There are 26 candidates who secured 72 marks but the MMSRB in the notice had indicated that there are only 22 candidates, why this discrepancy” he asked.