The Talukdar’s ghost that will haunt

Z Lohe The other day I came across the confident expression of NSF that no medical seat was allotted to Sri. Inzamul Hogue Talukdar in 2015. Yes, it is true that all the medical quota seats received from the Centre were availed only by local Naga candidates this year of 2015. Perhaps, in the opinion of NSF the chapter of controversial selection of Talukdar for a medical seat against Nagaland quota is closed since the candidate in question could not avail the seat. Nevertheless, Halo! shallow NSF, the controversy is far from over. Talukdar won the case in his writ petition filled in Gauhati High Court vide No. W.P.(C)No.169(K)/2015 and as per judgement passed on 29.9.2015. According to observations made by the Court on the plea, the following grounds justified Talukdar to have entitlement to get a medical seat from Nagaland quota.i) Possessing an Indigenous certificate, Talukdar became a candidate in NSEE on 19.5.2015 and declared one of the 22 successful candidates for MBBS and BDS studies. ii) In the wisdom of nodal Department (Technical Deptt.) the re-examination of NSEE was conducted on 4.7.2015 with 6 new laid down terms and conditions. The first condition runs as this: “The 22 candidates who qualified through NSEE 2015 will automatically be eligible for selection to MBBS and BDS courses.” This term has implied that Talukdar remains eligible to entitlement to a medical seat. iii) In the said terms, the existing 1995 Notification of debarring the non-Naga candidates from availing MBBS/BDS quota seat was not quoted. Virtually, for both the entrance examinations conducted by Technical Deptt. for selection of students for technical studies, the 1995 notification was made redundant. iv) The non-use of 1995 Notification in the adopted guidelines for the conduct of such examinations practically impeded its citing in the affidavit of the respondent (Technical Deptt.) and it was considered one of the major grounds for the judgement passed in favour of Talukdar. v) The other major self-infringement is the official letter written to Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI seeking for an additional medical seat particularly for Talukdar reportedly by Chief Minister of Nagaland and which was quoted in the respondent’s affidavit as follows: “At the same time, the State Government has written to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for an additional MBBS seat to accommodate Mr. Md. Inzamul HoqueTalukdar as a special case.” Whereas, the Court has used this content in para 13 of the respondent’s affidavit as a strong point for Talukdar. Either out of the original allotted seats or any additional seat so given by Union Ministry at the instance of Nagaland Government for Talukdar has same implication. In the light of above, and the way the Government of Nagaland has intentionally or casually created a cancerous precedence out of this episode which now poses a bleak future for our posterity. Yet, I wonder how serious is the Govt. of Nagaland or the Tecnichal Deptt. in particular in matter of perusal for a logical conclusion on the case. If the Court’s verdict is allowed to remain unchallenged, a flood gate is opened. By 2016 several Talukdars will avail all the technical seats unstoppably. My sincere concern is, though the Govt. of Nagaland may be contemplating to file counter writ petition, the general trend of ‘the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak’ factor may force the actors to be behind time. Or else, the Govt. of Nagaland may be treating the case to be secondary in the manner of passing the buck to one another and allow the precedent to remain. Or else, even when the petition is filed, due to casualness of the nodal authorities, the same may be repeated when hearing takes place as it happened on 29.9.2015. Under any circumstances, the verdict in question has to be challenged and bring about a logical conclusion with nothing less than legal victory. If we fail, Talukdar’s ghost will turn Nagaland into second Tripura sooner than thought.