A signboard directs aspirants to their exam centres during the first Combined Staff Recruitment Exams 2022 conducted by the Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) at an examination centre in Dimapur on November 11 and 12, 2022. The exams were held across 111 exam centres in 13 District Headquarters and currently, 1368 candidates are called for viva voce after the preliminary rounds for 630 posts. . (Morung File Photo)
Kohima, April 15 (MExN): The Personnel & Administrative Reforms Department (P&AR) today said that appealed for smooth conduct of interview process for recruitment under the NSSB and said that “only 5% out of 12.5% is left for the Board in order to assess and award the marks for the personal interview.”
The Naga Students’ Federation(NSF) on April 14 has called for a boycott of the Personal Interviews of the Combined Staff Recruitment Exam (CSRE) 2022 scheduled for April 17 and 18 until the demand for reduction of the marks for viva-voce component from 12.5% to 5% is met in the first exam under Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB).
A rejoinder from the P&AR Secretary informed that State Government had set up the NSSB and notified the NSSB regulations on 20.07.2020 with due consultation with various stakeholders including the NSF and regulations are in the public domain since then.
The NSSB had advertised its first CRSE on September 9, 2022 for 630 posts and currently, 1368 candidates are called for viva voce, it informed.
The Government had framed the Regulations taking into account the practices of other Recruitment Boards and Agencies where many States in India have retained viva-voce and interviews as an integral requirement of the recruitment process, the P&AR noted.
It further pointed out to a recent order by the Supreme Court (Civil Appeal No. 2103 of 2020) directing for 12.5% of the total marks for the viva voce for the recruitment process under Haryana Staff Selection Commission.
"Section 45 (10) of the NSSB Regulations 2020 reads: 'The Marks allotted for Personal Interview shall be fixed at not more than 12.5% of the total marks of the examination process,'” it said.
"Further Section 45 (12) reads: 'Marks awarded to a candidate appearing in the Personal Interview shall not be less than 40% of the total marks allotted for Interview and generally not more than 80% of the total marks allotted for Interview'”, it added.
“Therefore, as a corollary to the provisions under Section 45 (12); only 5% out of 12.5% is left for the Board in order to assess and award the marks for the personal interview,” it noted.
Meanwhile, the rejoinder maintained that during discussions with the NSF, it was made clear that Government is open to the idea of reviewing the NSSB’s regulations concerning the proportion of total marks to be allotted for written and interview exams, among others, before advertising the next cycle of recruitment.
However, since the current recruitment process was started with existing regulations, it should be allowed to go on without any change, it underscored.
The NSSB being a new organisation is putting in place strong systems to ensure a robust, transparent and IT enabled recruitment process, it maintained.
“The NSSB is confident that the interview process will also be completed smoothly and transparently as per the regulations.”
In this connection, the State Government through the P&AR appealed the NSF, other student bodies, candidates, their parents and guardians, and the citizens at large, to appreciate the inevitable need to continue the current recruitment process with the existing NSSB regulations.
Let the forthcoming interview process starting on the April 18 be conducted without any hindrance in the interest of the future of our meritorious youth, it added.
