Demands judicial probe, resignation of Advisors
Dimapur, February 11 (MExN): A purported screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation between the Nagaland Advisor for DUDA and the Advisor for Technical Education Department (TED) in connection with the appointment of a lecturer in the TED was released along with a press release by the Rising People’s Party (RPP) on Wednesday.
The screenshots, copies of which were issued to the media, showed a text from a phone number which the RPP stated belongs to the DUDA Advisor, asking the TED Advisor to “Kindly appoint him. My candidate.” The text was accompanied by a photo of a handwritten note containing the name of the candidate.
The RPP has demanded that the recruitment examination be declared null and void, and that the state government should constitute a judicial enquiry to probe the matter.
In the meantime both the Advisors should resign from their positions immediately, it asserted.
In the release, the RPP stated that the said candidate was ‘not surprisingly,’ listed in the Waiting List category of ‘Selected candidates’ published by the Technical Education Department on February 10, 2022 which was carried in the local newspapers.
The RPP claimed that, “The Advisor for Technical Education naturally tried to pass on the message to his department officials but unfortunately managed to post the screenshot in a wrong WhatsApp group.” It added that the “bombshell WhatsApp conversation” between the two Advisors was ample proof of ‘backdoor appointment’ in government departments.
The RPP which has been at loggerheads with the TED over the departmental recruitment exams asserted that the WhatsApp conversation is “just the tip-of-the-iceberg example of MLAs and willing government officials actively manipulating the system for vote bank politics.”
Referring to its earlier statements about the contentious recruitment exams, the RPP reiterated that “all departmental recruitment processes are farcical with the candidates already selected beforehand, and the conduct of written and interview tests are mere formalities to present the picture of ‘fair’ recruitment.”
It pointed out that the number of posts advertised for lecturers and demonstrators (24) by the TED on November 26, 2021 did not tally with the number of appointed candidates (33) that were announced on February 10. There were also 20 candidates in the waiting list category. (See table)
The RPP claimed that the Waiting List candidates would also be absorbed into the department “because it is now proved without reasonable doubt that the TED has more ‘hidden’ posts than it has actually revealed in public domain.”
Terming the departmental exams as illegal, the RPP called on the NDPP-BJP-NPF coalition government to declare the results ‘null and void,’ and sought the constitution of a Judicial enquiry headed by a sitting High Court Judge to probe the matter.
Advisor refutes allegations
Meanwhile, Advisor for Technical Education Medo Yhokha refuted the allegations that there was ‘backdoor appointment’ involved in the recruitment exams.
He said that at least 1,600 candidates had initially applied for the posts and the shortlisting was done on merit basis at the discretion of the interview board and the department.
When contacted by The Morung Express, Yhokha said he received ‘recommendations’ from various quarters. However, he maintained the appointments were made purely on merit basis by the interview board and there was no favouritism or nepotism involved in the process.
On the RPP’s allegation that the number of posts and the appointed candidates did not tally, the Advisor informed that subsequent addendums to the November 26, 2021 advertisement were issued in December 2021 and there were no anomalies in the number of advertised posts or selected candidates.
Further, Advisor Yhokha maintained that the appointments were temporary in nature (for one year period only) and made purely on ‘need basis’ as most of the new polytechnics and institutions have begun the academic session without any teaching faculty or even fourth grade employees.
Reiterating the TED’s earlier clarification that the posts have been requisitioned to the NPSC, he further stated that the present appointments would be nullified once the NPSC is ready to conduct the recruitment exams.
The DUDA Advisor was unable for comment at the time of filing this report.
