Says, govt yet to respond even after 4 days of agitation
Nagaland Assembly Secretariat Staff Association (NASSA) and Joint Action Committee (JAC) have on Tuesday affirmed to continue the ongoing agitation for three more days (June 8-10, 2022).
NASSA is protesting the state government’s decision of appointing Dr. PJ Antony (retired officer) as principal secretary, under the establishment of the NLA secretariat.
Speaking to Nagaland Post at the Assembly secretariat, NASSA general secretary, Talirenla Imchen, said that the agitation was against the NLA speaker’s “unwarranted decision”, which violated the existing service rules.
Describing the actions of the speaker as “demoralising” for the workforce of the assembly, Imchem said that association demands that decision of the government be “revoked and retracted”. She said that such “malpractices” by authorities was disappointing.
JAC member, Ruyosuyi Vadeo, stated that none of the stakeholders or board members were notified with regard to the amendment of the service rules.
NASSA vice president, Rocus Rino, said that if the service of the officer was “indispensable”, he could have been appointed as an “advisor or a consultant”.
He said that in spite of the agitation entering the fourth day, the competent authority was still turning a deaf ear to the representation submitted by NASSA earlier.
He said the association would continue to fight till the appointment of the retired officer was revoked.
NSF, ENSF come out in support of NASSA
In an interview with Nagaland Post, NSF president Kegwayhun Tep said that government’s decision to appoint Dr. P J Anthony, as the HoD with administrative authorities was questionable.
In spite of him being a superannuated central government employee, Tep said reappointing him was unfortunate, adding that the decision needed to be rectified without any delay.
The federation further appealed to the state government to reconsider its decision and undo the promotion and extension of the said officer without delay.
ENSF: Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) has extended its “unwavering solidarity” towards the NASSA and appealed to the state government to re-examine the Nagaland Legislative Assembly Service Rules Amendment notification, which was notified on May 18, 2022 and nullify the appointment of Dr. P.J Anthony “in the larger interest of the government employees of the state.”
In a press note, ENSF president Chingmak Chang and assistant general secretary Kaibo Konyak said the federation deliberated at length upon the notification and condemned the “arbitrary action” of the commissioner & secretary for revision/amendments of NLA Secretariat (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules 1999.
ENSF claimed that the Cadre Review Committee/Service Rules Amendment Committee, which was constituted on October 3, 2020, CIRCULAR NO.AS/CS/CIRCLAR/2020/5 and Re-notified of Office Memorandum NO: AS/ESTT/CR/29/2022, 24th March’ 2022 and was due to submit on or before June 30, 2022.
However, ENSF stated that the Service Rules Amendment notification was approved on May 18, 2022 prior to the submission by the constituent Committee. ENSF said it implied that Dr. P.J Antony was “well in his interest to retain/continue the service even after the extension of his service (01.06.2020 to 31.05.2022) in fast track manner pursued for early approval of the notification.”
ENSF stated that the state government should not maintain neutrality in meeting the justification in the common interest. It stated that any matter based on favouritism should not be entertained at any level.
