HC ruling on NSSB victory for student community: RPP

Rising People’s Party (RPP) said Guwahati High Court Kohima Bench had on Monday finally disposed of the PIL on Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) by ruling that the board should start functioning at the earliest.
Mentioning this, the party in a release said based on the compliance affidavit filed by the State government, Justice S Serto and Justice Nelson Sailo were satisfied with the government undertaking and ruled that “Since everything is in place the Board shall start functioning and conduct exams at the earliest as people of the state have been eagerly waiting for so long.”
After numerous hearings and delay tactics of the State government, the party said the judges finally saved the day for the student community, terming the development as a “victory” for the student community and credited the efforts of Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), Public Service Aspirants of Nagaland (PSAN), Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) and others like Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) for this in the initial years.
Requesting NSSB to start the recruitment process at the earliest, RPP alleged that though the case could have been disposed of as early as November 2021, the delay tactics of the State government’s advocates ensured otherwise and that many students crossed the age limit unfortunately.
It called for considering age relaxation since it was the UDA coalition that created the problem in the first place, including adopting delay tactics during the hearing period.
As per the affidavit, NSSB chairman took charge on February 16, 2022 and the board’s office at the new directorate building of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Sciences was up and running since April 20, 2022.
The party recalled that though the Neiphiu Rio government had issued a notification constituting NSSB in July 2020, it remained only on paper even after lapse of more than one year. Instead, the State government had on July 16, 2021 opted for backdoor appointment of more than 1,400 posts, which horrified every right thinking citizens, it added.
In order to salvage the future of the students, the party said it had filed a PIL on August 31, 2021 through advocate Neiteo Koza.
RPP further declared that it if came to power, it would ensure that interviews in NSSB were done away with in order to curb nepotism and favouritism. Only the written marks would be considered for the final merit list, it added
The flip-flop of the Rio government against the student community should not be forgotten, the release stressed.