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More organisation oppose regularisation of 147 assistant professors

Despite the government having kept in abeyance the regularization of 147 assistant professors and librarians after overwhelming protests, the issue seemingly just refuses to be blown away.


The Rising People’s Party (RPP), National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and Eastern Nagaland Col-lege Students’ Union (ENCSU) have now joined the growing chorus of opposition to the move.


RPP: The Rising People’s Party (RPP) maintained that the move to regularise the services had clearly shown that the Neiphiu Rio-led government was anti-student and anti-youth. RPP also demanded that Temjen Imna Along be relieved of the Higher Education portfolio in the interest of fairness and jus-tice.


RPP also stressed that the minister in-charge of an important department such as Higher Education, should have been someone having some semblance of integrity and character. In this regard, RPP pointed out that there was a fraud case pending against Along in the Bombay High Court.


Further RPP said while the “provocateur-in-chief” Along was the target of everyone’s ire, and rightly so, it also equally blamed the Rio cabinet for the regularisation. RPP recalled that once Along had “bombastically” that there would be no more appointments from the backdoor, but today has managed to provoke every right-thinking citizen with regularisation of 147 assistant professors and librarians.


The party also termed it as “delaying tactic” the decision of the NDDP-led government to constitute a committee to study the issue adding this was “ insulting, demeaning and tone deaf” since the matter has become a prestige issue.


RPP said it would be disastrous for the student community if it was to back off without the issue being settled and also the just demand of Combined Technical Association of Nagaland (CTAN) and Naga-land NET Qualified Forum (NNQF) would have to be fulfilled.

RPP said the issue of contractual appointment was all pervasive, and that it was only a matter of time before the same issue surfaces in other departments as well.


The party opined that it was time to strike while the iron was hot and suggested that CTAN, NNQF and Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) must extract from the government its solemn undertaking that all contractual appointments done after June 6, 2016 was illegal and contrary to the office memorandum of June 6, 2016 that banned contractual appointments.

RPP said the Rio government should immedi-ately requisition all these posts either to the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) or Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) for conducting the examinations.

ANCSU: All Nagaland College Students’ Union (ANCSU) has demanded the state government to en-sure that the issue of regularisation and absorption of 147 assistant professors did not hamper the un-dergraduate even semester examinations scheduled from May 5 to 29, and that results were declared on time.


ANCSU president Tenyesinlo Bukh and general secretary Kivinoka A Sema in a statement cautioned that should the government fail to act with urgency, then the union, in compliance with the Naga Stu-dents’ Federation (NSF) ultimatum of April 21, would be compelled to initiate democratic agitations in defence of students’ and aspirants’ rights.


Expressing strong dismay over the outcome of the emergency cabinet meeting held on April 21 wherein it was decided to keep in abeyance the absorption of 147 assistant professors and librarians, they said they had appealed the state government on April 19 to rollback the absorption order consid-ering the interest of the students, aspirants and sanctity of academic institutions.


However, by disregarding the issue even after several representations from various organisations, they said the state government evidently demonstrated the failure of its commitment towards educa-tional welfare of students in the state.


They hoped the government would uphold the values of the students and public accountability in its actions, in order to avoid any chaos in the institutions.


ENCSU: The ENCSU has sought the chief secretary’s intervention in ensuring that appointments were made in a fair, transparent, and merit-based manner.


In a letter, ENCSU president Mankap C Konyak and general secretary K Pongjikhiung Yimkhiung ap-pealed the chief secretary to revoke the absorption of 147 assistant professors and librarians forth-with, besides ordering a thorough investigation into the matter and ensure that the appointments were made in a fair, transparent, and merit-based manner.


Claiming that the absorption process had been shrouded in mystery, with the selection criteria and evaluation parameters remaining opaque, they pointed out that this lack of transparency had led to widespread apprehensions regarding the fairness and impartiality of the process.


They said they firmly believed that the absorption process had failed to meet this fundamental principle. They stressed that the absorption of assistant professors and librarians was a sacrosanct process that must be guided by the principles of meritocracy.


However, according to them, the recent absorption seemed to have been made without due consideration to the academic credentials and qualifications of the candidates, resulting in “a square peg in a round hole.”


The duo stated that there were credible allegations of undue influence and favouritism in the absorption process, which had cast a shadow of doubt over the entire exercise.


They expressed deep concern that the absorption had been made to serve personal or parochial interests rather than the larger public interest, cautioning that this approach could have be far-reaching consequences for the academic ecosystem.


Hence, they implored the chief secretary to revoke the absorption immediately for upholding the principles of meritocracy and transparency in the appointment process.


NSUI: The NSUI, Nagaland has unequivocally demanded that the cabinet rescind the regressive decision, dis-solve the committee formed in this regard and issue a notification explicitly stating the revocation of order (no. HTE/HE/13-3/2020(pt-1) dated 17th December, 2024).


The NSUI Nagaland in a press release also implored the chief minister to immediately sack Along, and replace him with someone who was more sensible, responsible and educated, besides being genuine-ly serious and sufficiently qualified to handle the department.


Expressing dismay at the lethargic attitude of the state government regarding the ongoing protest against the regularisation of 147 assistant professors under the Department of Higher Education, the student body described the cabinet decision of April 21, 2025 to keep the absorption of the assistant professors in abeyance as a blatant disregard for the legitimate demands of thousands of students who had been selflessly sacrificing their valuable time protesting for their rights, when they should have been preparing for their exams.