Cabinet Sub Committee Working Group (CSCWG) for Reservation in Government Services has decided to recommend a comprehensive review of the State’s reservation policy on the basis of the Census 2021 data as soon as it is made available.
The decision came at a meeting of the working group held at secretariat conference hall here on Tuesday. Sources informed Nagaland Post that the meeting considered all aspects of the issue before deciding to recommend the comprehensive review.
ENSF demands: On Eastern Naga Students’ Federation’s (ENSF) various demands vis-à-vis Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC), the sub-committee held several rounds of discussions with NPSC and Personnel & Administrative Reforms (P&AR) department to examine the matters. CSCWG maintained that once NPSC recommended a candidate against a post reserved for backward tribes (BTs) of Eastern Nagaland, the process was deemed complete. However, in case the candidate resigns after joining service, the vacancy should be treated as a new vacancy to be filled up as per the roster point prevailing at the time of fresh requisition made by the department concerned.
The committee pointed out that there was no such provision in the reservation policy or anywhere in any State of the country that the post be kept reserved for a particular tribe or community to which the candidate who resigned belonged.
On the demand for making marks obtained by NPSC candidates in written exam and viva voce available in public domain, the meeting clarified that the marks obtained were intimated to the candidates concerned, but publishing them in public domain would violate their privacy and could attract legal provisions.
The Committee therefore rejected this demand on the ground that even the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) did not follow such a practice.
21 backlog posts recommended for BTs: Regarding the demand for compensating more than 100 posts reserved for BTs that were allegedly lost over the years due to faulty implementation of reservation policy, the meeting noted that the details was examined with ENSF and NPSC, besides P&AR department.
The findings revealed that 21 posts were identified, in addition to the existing backlog posts awaiting recruitment. The sub-committee recommended that these 21 posts be compensated for recruitment as expeditiously as possible.
Educational qualification lowered: On the demand to lower educational qualifications for members of NPSC from MA to BA, the committee was apprised of the context that the qualification was raised from graduate to post-graduate in view of the rising availability of post-graduate candidates among various tribes of Eastern Nagaland.
However, in view of the practical difficulty whereby a graduate candidate with more experience and other suitable attributes could be more preferable than a post-graduate candidate with lesser experience and lower qualities, the committee recommended that the demand be accepted and the educational qualification be lowered from PG to graduate.
NSSB: The sub-committee also deliberated on the changes sought in the Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) regulations notified by the State government.
On the demand that the chairman and two members be rotated among the recognised tribes of Nagaland on a roster basis, the sub-committee observed that though the government tried to ensure adequate representation of various tribes in such bodies and hence there might be no harm in making a specific provision in the regulations to this effect.
Therefore, it recommended that as far as practicable, the chairman and the members be rotated among the recognised tribes of Nagaland and a suitable amendment of the regulations be carried out in this regard.
On the demand to bring exempted services under the purview of NSSB for the purpose of conducting written examinations, the sub-committee observed that the board with the notified provisions was yet to be made functional and hence it would be more advisable to start with the notified mandate of the board.
On inclusion of more posts, the sub-committee maintained that this could be considered in due course of time after the functioning of the board stabilised.
CSCWG further recommended that the demand for setting up examination centres for preliminary and written exams in all district headquarters be accepted and a suitable provision in the regulations incorporated to this effect, if it did not exist.
The sub-committee also recommended that the demand for penalty provisions for defaulting departments/officers failing to requisition posts through NSSB be accepted and a suitable provision in the regulations incorporated if it did not exist.
The sources said the members present at the meeting gave their consent to the recommendations by raising their hand.
The civil society organisations in the committee included Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation, Central Nagaland Tribes Council, Tenyimi Public Organisation, Core Committee on Rationalisation of Reservation Policy, Eastern Naga Students’ Federation, Eastern Nagaland Gazetted Officers’ Association, Naga Students’ Federation and Central Nagaland Students’ Association.