Over 300 aspirants under the banner of Combined Technical Association of Nagaland (CTAN) and Nagaland NET Qualified Forum (NNQF), supported by college students from nearby institutions, staged a peaceful protest at the Directorate of Higher Education here Wednesday demanding immediate revocation of an order that regularised 147 contractual assistant professors and librarians in the higher education department.
Braving the rain, the protestors held placards and shouted slogans demanding justice and equal opportunity in public appointments. Addressing media persons at the protest site, core NNQF member Videkhono stated that the groups submitted a representation to the department but were instead drawn into an impromptu meeting with officials. She said the officials attempted to justify the regularisation, but the explanation failed to satisfy the protestors, prompting them to walk out.
CTAN core member Meshenlo Kath said the protest was not against all contractual employees, particularly those appointed before 2016, but specifically questioned appointments made after that year. Kath said while the appointments were initially made on an ad-hoc basis to address shortages, no advertisements were ever issued for the posts that have now been regularised. He alleged that the move denied qualified candidates a chance to compete through proper recruitment channels.
Further, Kath questioned the legality of regularising individuals appointed to non-sanctioned posts and demanded transparency on how those positions were created for absorption into regular service without clearance from Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC).
Sharing her experience, Noyingbeni, a research scholar from Nagaland University, said many NET-qualified candidates had spent years preparing and sacrificing for academic eligibility, only to be sidelined. She said that her department at the university advertised only two posts annually—one of which was reserved—effectively leaving a single vacancy. In 2023, there were no advertisements, and the current regularisation has dashed hopes for 2025, she added.
In response to the protest, ex-officio director of higher education, Lovitoly Sema, clarified in a letter addressed to the protestors that the contractual appointments made after June 6, 2016, were under fixed-pay arrangements due to exigent circumstances, and those appointed were filling non-sanctioned posts. Sema stated that all currently available sanctioned vacancies had already been requisitioned to NPSC and that no additional posts remained for requisition currently.
However, CTAN and NNQF have continued to question how appointments made on non-sanctioned posts after 2016 could be regularised without due process. The associations reiterated their demand for immediate revocation of December 17 order and warned that if their demands were not met, they would launch an indefinite office lockdown of the higher education directorate starting April 17.