Dimapur, October 9 (MExN): The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) today said that the Nagaland government under the Naga People’s Front (NPF) is fooling the “backward tribes” by offering 10 Extra Additional Commissioner (EACs) posts only to cover up backdoor political appointments.
CLP leader Tokheho Yepthomi issued a press release today saying that the “special recruitment drive” has done nothing but sharply divided the Naga society. “If the Govt. has not given the rational number of posts to the backward tribes, it had only fooled the backward tribes by offering 10 EAC posts out of the way to cover up backdoor political appointments,” the Congress leader said.
The “SRD” has done tremendous harm to the “mutual trust and understanding” that “existed among the Nagas irrespective of tribal affinities,” the opposition said. In the interest of social harmony and also to restore the trust of the affected people towards each other, the Congress said, the NPF government must ‘come out with full transparency on the issue of SRD.’
The CLP stated these demands – “The NPF government should honor its slogan of transparency and accountability in governance as promised to the people during election and publish the list of retired employees with effect from November 1, 2009 up to date. The government should make public the details of employment given to the backward tribes under 33% reserved quota with effect from November 1, 2009 up to date. Approximately 6000 employees are estimated to have gone on retirement since November 1, 2009 that includes about 1000 gazetted officers. Rationally, if 33% reservation was strictly adhered to, the 10 backward tribes are entitled about 1980 posts (both gazetted and non-gazetted) out of the total retired.
By rough estimate, the CLP said, out of the resultant 1000 gazetted posts, the backward tribes are entitled 330 posts.
“So, what was the logic in offering them with just 10 EAC posts on SRD? Could the Govt. do justice by offering 10 EAC posts as a special sob as though such act was the saving grace of the NPF Govt.? If 33% reservation was implemented judiciously, what was the need for SRD of 10 EAC posts?” Yepthomi queried.
The government should also come out clearly with the number of posts filled up through NPSC and departmental examinations since November 1, 2009, the Congress said.
“By logic, if 50 posts of vacancies are advertised at any given point of time, 16 posts will go to the backward tribes out of which, 12 posts will go to the eastern Naga tribes and 4 posts will be shared by the other four backward tribes. For any vacancy, if the total posts advertised is less than 25, the four backward tribes enjoying only 4% and 2%, are shunted out. Going by the number of posts advertised that falls short of 25 posts benchmark on many occasions, it appears that the NPF Govt. led by Neiphiu Rio has been using this formula to systematically discriminate the backward tribes.”
The Congress accused the NPF government of “covertly” trying to protect own political appointees by constituting a review committee for backward reservation as a “delay tactic.” The state government is fully aware that the ad-hoc and contract employees appointed ‘through backdoor’ will be legally and constitutionally protected on completion of three years continuous service, the CLP said.
Further, stating that the NPF government should be ‘ashamed of its flip-flop style of governance,’ the Congress said the state cabinet, “which is expected to take matured political decision often changes its decisions childishly.”
“The Cabinet decision to revert its own order within a week on the issue of regularization of teachers and the present case are glaring examples of Cabinet decisions without application of mind,” the Congress reminded.
The opposition has demanded that the NPF government ‘clarify on the recent misunderstanding between the advanced and backward tribes as a result of its myopic decisions aimed at gaining electoral mileage.’
CLP leader Tokheho Yepthomi issued a press release today saying that the “special recruitment drive” has done nothing but sharply divided the Naga society. “If the Govt. has not given the rational number of posts to the backward tribes, it had only fooled the backward tribes by offering 10 EAC posts out of the way to cover up backdoor political appointments,” the Congress leader said.
The “SRD” has done tremendous harm to the “mutual trust and understanding” that “existed among the Nagas irrespective of tribal affinities,” the opposition said. In the interest of social harmony and also to restore the trust of the affected people towards each other, the Congress said, the NPF government must ‘come out with full transparency on the issue of SRD.’
The CLP stated these demands – “The NPF government should honor its slogan of transparency and accountability in governance as promised to the people during election and publish the list of retired employees with effect from November 1, 2009 up to date. The government should make public the details of employment given to the backward tribes under 33% reserved quota with effect from November 1, 2009 up to date. Approximately 6000 employees are estimated to have gone on retirement since November 1, 2009 that includes about 1000 gazetted officers. Rationally, if 33% reservation was strictly adhered to, the 10 backward tribes are entitled about 1980 posts (both gazetted and non-gazetted) out of the total retired.
By rough estimate, the CLP said, out of the resultant 1000 gazetted posts, the backward tribes are entitled 330 posts.
“So, what was the logic in offering them with just 10 EAC posts on SRD? Could the Govt. do justice by offering 10 EAC posts as a special sob as though such act was the saving grace of the NPF Govt.? If 33% reservation was implemented judiciously, what was the need for SRD of 10 EAC posts?” Yepthomi queried.
The government should also come out clearly with the number of posts filled up through NPSC and departmental examinations since November 1, 2009, the Congress said.
“By logic, if 50 posts of vacancies are advertised at any given point of time, 16 posts will go to the backward tribes out of which, 12 posts will go to the eastern Naga tribes and 4 posts will be shared by the other four backward tribes. For any vacancy, if the total posts advertised is less than 25, the four backward tribes enjoying only 4% and 2%, are shunted out. Going by the number of posts advertised that falls short of 25 posts benchmark on many occasions, it appears that the NPF Govt. led by Neiphiu Rio has been using this formula to systematically discriminate the backward tribes.”
The Congress accused the NPF government of “covertly” trying to protect own political appointees by constituting a review committee for backward reservation as a “delay tactic.” The state government is fully aware that the ad-hoc and contract employees appointed ‘through backdoor’ will be legally and constitutionally protected on completion of three years continuous service, the CLP said.
Further, stating that the NPF government should be ‘ashamed of its flip-flop style of governance,’ the Congress said the state cabinet, “which is expected to take matured political decision often changes its decisions childishly.”
“The Cabinet decision to revert its own order within a week on the issue of regularization of teachers and the present case are glaring examples of Cabinet decisions without application of mind,” the Congress reminded.
The opposition has demanded that the NPF government ‘clarify on the recent misunderstanding between the advanced and backward tribes as a result of its myopic decisions aimed at gaining electoral mileage.’
