KHNAM meets Sangma on jobs

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG, MAR 29: The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) today echoed its demand for doing away with the carry forward system in government jobs.

This demand was made by a delegation of the KHNAM led by its working president Adelbert Nongrum during its meeting with chief minister Mukul Sangma. The delegation sought Sangma’s intervention on the matter.

Addressing reporters after the meeting, Nongrum said, “We have demanded the immediate intervention of the state government on the need to do away with the carry forward system in respect to reserved job quota in the state.”

He informed that the party has also expressed its concern on the decision of the government to extend the reserved quota to the non Garo community and to Garos residing outside Meghalaya.

Stating that the demand is not to bring any communal disharmony among the three tribes of the state, Nongrum, however, said the party’s intention was to ensure that the government addresses the loopholes in the state reservation policy.

“The move is to ensure efficiency in administration,” he added.

As per office memorandum of the Personnel Department issued in 1979, it had stated – “In case if reserved vacancies for any particular group could not be filled up in any particular recruitment year, the state government may direct that reservation shall not be treated as lapsed after the expiry of the second year but will be carried forward for one year more i.e. for a total period of 3 years.”

However, the party is of the view that this should be done away with by suggesting that any unfulfilled quota from any community should not be carried forward but should be transferred to the other community.

Further, the KHNAM also stressed the need to amend the 1974 – Personnel department notification, which allows persons conversant in Garo languages, customs and usages and Garos residing outside Meghalaya to be recruited to government jobs.

This was done in case of absence of sufficient number of Garo candidates to fill the 40% vacancies reserved for them and the administrative requirement is not being met.

In order to overcome the difficulties and in the interest of administrative efficiency, the 1974 notification stated – “The government have decided that if in any category of posts, 40% of the vacancies reserved for the Garos could not be filled up, the remaining vacancies in the quota reserved for the Garos shall be treated as unreserved vacancies and should be filled up only from among suitable candidates well conversant in Garo language, preference being given to persons belonging to Garo community from areas even outside Meghalaya, who would be likely to be conversant in Garo language and also in the customs and usages among Garos.”

According to the party, extension of reserved quota to people from outside the state is seen as an injustice done not only to the Khasi and Jaintia community but also to the genuine Garo community of the state.

The party state youth wing president Thomas Passah said moreover a special recruitment was also conducted for the purpose, which is seen as an attempt to forcefully fill up the vacancies reserved for the Garos.

“We also demand that the government should bring necessary amendment on this regard and ensure that such special recruitment is done away with,” he said.

Passah said that the party also maintained that people to be recruited for filling up the vacancies reserved for the three communities should be from the indigenous residents of the state.

Asked, the party leaders said that the chief minister has assured the delegation that the state government would look into the matter and according address the concern.

Meanwhile, the KHNAM has decided to conduct a follow up on the matter after a month’s time.