Dimapur, June 1 (EMN): The Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) has urged the state government to strictly instruct/ direct its various departments to requisition the vacant posts as well as the posts occupied through backdoor appointment, contract/ casual/ adhoc/ deputation/ irregular/ erroneous, etc. to the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) for conduct of open competition examination to ensure equal opportunity to all the eligible candidates in Nagaland.
An NVCO press release issued by its media cell has raised two questions: firstly as to whether the state government adhered to Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India in the process of public employment by way of issuing advertisement inviting applications from all eligible candidates and holds a proper selection where all eligible candidates get a fair chance to compete; and secondly, whether the NPSC has constituted a body of sufficient experts where its members are fair and impartial while holding the selection process through written examination and interview maintaining proportionate/reasonable ratio of total markings of written and interview.
NVCO maintained that any appointment made without advertisement and without inviting applications from open market is backdoor appointment/ irregular and amounts to infringement of Article 14 and 16 of Indian Constitution.
It has quoted the speech of its president, Kezhokhoto Savi, during the 1st general conference of Combined Technical Association of Nagaland (CTAN) held at State Academy Hall in Kohima on May 28, who spoke on the theme “Equal opportunity in public employment.’ While talking about the importance of ‘equality,’ Savi cited Aristotle who said, “Injustice arises when equals are treated unequally and also when unequal are treated equally.”
Savi stated that Article 16 of Indian Constitution guaranteed equal opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state.
CTAN is a combination of 10 technical associations of Nagaland such as civil, electrical, mechanical, agriculture, forestry, horticulture, electronic and communication, computer science and IT, Agri sciences etc, which was formed in 2016 mainly to fight for equal opportunity as they were mostly deprived of their rights to sit for open competition. The association has more than 2500 registered members, while the same numbers are yet to be registered.
Savi has alleged involvement of corruption for public employment in Nagaland through abuse of power, nepotism, favoritism, extortion, bribery, embezzlement and fraud. He also accused the bureaucrats of making false claims for benefits in the forms of false medical reimbursement, travelling allowances, leave travel concession (TA/LTC), general provident fund (GPF), leave encashment, pension, etc.
Savi has, therefore, sought justice by ensuring ‘Equality of appointment in matters of public employment’ as enshrined in Article 16 of Indian Constitution in order to bring about a positive change in public administration.
