Dimapur, February 17 (MExN): The All Nagaland College Students Union (ANCSU) today asked the Chief Minister of Nagaland TR Zeliang to initiate punitive action against erring officials of the Technical Education Department who were implicated in the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) in its final report.
It was one of three-point demand put forth by ANCSU in an ultimatum submitted to the chief minister seeking his “utmost” necessary actions against irregularity in the functioning of the technical education.
In the ultimatum, a copy of which was made available to the media, the ANSCU also demanded initiating the process of amalgamation of Technical Education Department with Higher Education Department without delay.
“Only the Indigenous tribes of Nagaland should be allowed to appear the Technical and allied courses for state reserved quota,” it further stated.
According to ANCSU, the present ultimatum relates to the irregularity and discrepancies; loopholes in conduct of exams; and distribution of seats for various technical courses by the department which “it has been relentlessly following since October 4, 2014.” Even though the authority was fully sized of the “seriousness and the concern of the students’ body,” the concerned department was least concerned and considered its demand as “baseless” and even threatened the ANCSU with defamation charges, ANCSU alleged.
Only later, the government constituted a 5-member High Power Committee (HPC) under the Chairmanship of the former Chief Secretary of Nagaland, CJ Ponraj, to enquire into the various demands of ANCSU. But shockingly, the report furnished after 5 months where the core issues were not addressed, ANCSU pointed out.
Consequently, it was “forced” to reject the HPC’s Report and demanded 10 years period enquiry by the CBI but the State Government appointed the SVC to investigate the issue within 3 months. “SVC final report against the Technical Education Department has proved beyond an iota of truth that the department was neither working transparently nor for the welfare of the students’ community but for a few selected groups, throughout the years,” ANCSU told the chief minister.
The ANCSU has therefore sought the chief minister’s intervention and warned that the ultimatum will “expire within 15 days from the date of submission.”
