Nagaland: JCC demands cancellation of IAS panel list, allege procedural lapses

DIMAPUR — The Joint Coordination Committee (JCC)—comprising CANSSEA, FONSESA, NF&ASA, NSSA and NIDA—has demanded the cancellation of the IAS panel list, alleging that it was finalised through “flawed applications and procedural errors.”

In a statement issued after its meeting with the Cabinet sub-committee on October 20, the JCC said that while the government had pointed out procedural lapses in the vacancy circulars issued on July 6, 2020 and March 10, 2025, these were subsequently ratified by the Cabinet on March 27, 2025—two days after the withdrawal of the March 25 circular and a day after the application deadline had expired.

According to the JCC, it was “bewildering” that the 2020 vacancy circular had earlier formed the basis for the appointment of a non-SCS officer into the IAS by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) without any objections, adding that the same guidelines were now being questioned.

It stated that Clause 4 of both the July 2020 and March 2025 circulars was consistent with the Supreme Court’s judgement in Civil Appeal Nos. 4426-4466 of 2023, which allowed executive instructions to supplement existing rules in cases of ambiguity. Therefore, it argued, the two circulars had legal validity and strengthened the IAS regulations rather than contradicting them.

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The committee further alleged that the government’s subsequent move to withdraw the March 10 circular and replace it with the April 24, 2025 circular “in a hurried volte face and in the guise of correcting procedural lapses” effectively enabled a non-NPSC officer’s candidature.

It questioned why the application of a non-NPSC candidate was accepted under the March 10 circular, which had specifically stated that only officers recruited through the NPSC were eligible.

The JCC maintained that when the March 10 circular was withdrawn, all applications under it became null and void. It pointed out that while no new applications were received after the April 24 re-advertisement, yet the Screening Committee finalised the panel list—indicating that it was based on applications submitted under the now-withdrawn circular.

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“This itself is a procedural lapse, and hence the whole exercise of finalising the panel list is based upon invalid applications and must be revoked and cancelled,” it stated.

Citing Para 3(ii) of the DoPT office memorandum dated October 7, 2020, the JCC pointed out that appointments made without prescribed qualifications or proper competitive procedures were considered illegal, and such candidates should not be inducted into the IAS.

The committee alleged that “every step had been custom-made” to facilitate the candidature of a particular non-NPSC officer, warning that the move could set a precedent for “similar future candidates loitering in the corridors of power.”

The JCC demanded the cancellation of the ias panel list and restoration of the March 10, 2025 vacancy circular “in toto,” asserting that it was in consonance with the Supreme Court’s judgement.