Remembering illegal appointment practices and consumer rights

World Consumer’s Day

Dimapur, March 15 (EMN): The Nagaland Voluntary Consumer Organisation (NVCO) and several other interest organisations observed World Consumer Rights Day with discourses against some of the commonest illegal administrative and economic practices in Nagaland against which activists in the state continue to demand redress and action.

The NVCO issued different press releases and updates informing about a number of programmes that it conducted as part of World Consumer Rights Day.

A programme commemorating consumer rights was observed on March 15 at Immanuel Baptist Church of Kohima, the NVCO stated. Immanuel Baptist Church Kohima and the NVCO conducted the event as part of Sunday morning worship ‘as one of the most important international events falls on Sunday,’ the NVCO stated in the press release.

The NVCO’s president Kezhokhoto Savi expressed gratitude to the church for ‘granting sometime to him to highlight the importance of the observance of the Day as every church member is a consumer.’ He highlighted the rights and duties of consumers based on the year’s programme ‘The sustainable consumer.’

‘As far as the records of NVCO’ is concerned, the press release stated, ‘the first church that had invited the organisation to conduct a seminar on consumer rights was Immanuel Baptist Church Kohima.’

Meat dealers
Savi spoke about how he deals with butchers in the state’s capital Kohima town. He urged the meat dealers to be ‘truthful to their customers in measuring meat with honest balances and honest weights based on a scripture the Book of Leviticus 19:35-37 - “You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and observe them: I am the Lord.”

The NVCO member then briefed the church’s members about the various aspects of food safety as stated in the Food Safety and Standards Act based on the first right of consumer: Right to Safety.

Further, the people were urged to be aware of citizens’ entitlement in the National Food Security Act where the AAY members were entitled 35 kg of food grains per month and the priority household or PHH members get 5 kg per head per month for each family at the rate of INR 3 per kg for rice and INR 2 per kg for wheat.

‘Awareness is powerful. Citizens should not allow unscrupulous people to play with genuine citizens’ entitlements in a form of black-marketing where the 50 kg of rice costing INR 150 is selling at the rate of INR 1200 to INR 1400 in the market. The state government is yet to set up the state food commission,’ the press release stated.

Backdoor appointments
The NVCO, and the Combined Technical Association of Nagaland (CTAN), and the Civil Engineers Association of Nagaland (Cean) also observed the 3rd day of the week-long World Consumer Rights Day programme on March 11 in Kohima.

Based on the year’s theme “The sustainable consumer” the CTAN and the Cean pointed out that the “illegal process of recruitment in a form of backdoor appointment” is “just contrary to the year theme announced by the Consumers International for 2020,” the press release stated.

Earlier, they had called off their peaceful protest against backdoor appointments in the Nagaland Public Works department with a commitment from the commissioner-secretary for Works & Housing department to settle the backdoor appointment issue within three months’ time in a meeting convened by the commissioner-secretary, Works & Housing, on December 17 2019, the press release stated.

The press release alleged that the department made direct appointments of 30 SO grade-II personnel, seven surveyors, seven draftsmen, eight ‘JE’ on contract basis against sanctioned posts (appointed with approval of Nagaland Public Service Commission) and several other ‘LDAs’ and ‘SAs' within 2017 and 2018.

The press release stated that it was a 'clear case of backdoor appointment in total violation of OM Personal & Administrative Reform 2016 and the landmark judgment of Uma Devi holding the appointment made without open advertisement which is the ultra vires of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.’

So far, the press release stated, “the concerned department had never communicated to them about the removal of backdoor appointees and the dateline is expiring end of March 2020.”

Another instated that the press release mentioned was ‘two occasions where a representation was submitted to the department of Forest to terminate the 5 posts of Forester-1 appointed and advertise the post along with 5 other post lying vacant and also terminate the 2 post of Junior Soil Conservator Officer in the department of Soil and Water.’

An appeal was made to the mentioned departments to terminate the backdoor appointees failing which the CTAN and the Cean would take an own course of action in fighting against backdoor appointment and that no department would be spared as per the law.

“Enough is Enough,” the press release stated.

The NVCO member also highlighted ‘backdoor appointment.’ He stated that the fight against backdoor appointment is to ensure justice by ensuring “Equality of appointment in matters of public appointment” enshrined as a Fundamental Right in Article 16 of the Constitution of India to educated, meritorious, qualified but unemployed youths so as to bring about a positive change in public administration and achieve the goals and ideals stated in the constitution.

‘It is also a fight against all those employed who have been appointed/recruited in various departments of the government of Nagaland bypassing the constitutional scheme of public employment through the modus operandi of illegal, backdoor, contractual, adhoc, casual, temporary, deputation, irregular etc. modes of appointment in collusion with bureaucrats and the politicians.’

Right to Information

Another issue that the NVCO mentioned in its updates was the Right to Information (RTI).

‘Access to information under the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI) is one of the most powerful tools that have been provided to the citizens of the country. The object of passing RTI was to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability in the functioning of every public authority, curtail corruption and make our democracy work for the people in the real sense,’ the organisation stated.

According to the NVCO, ‘most of the illiterate people from remote rural areas are still unaware of this right which is equally important to them and it is the duty of the informed citizens to educate the people.’

‘Looking at the impact of the RTI in Nagaland for the past ten years, the NVCO has come across success stories and the misuse of RTI as well,’ the updates stated.

Considering the importance of the RTI and its impact, ‘let us make best use of this right and tool that has been provided and guaranteed by the Parliament to every citizen in the country and look forward to a future where we can achieve transparency, accountability, corruption-free democracy to prevail in it truest sense,’ the NVCO stated.