SHILLONG: The Meghalaya high court has stayed all government recruitment processes until a roster system is put in place for the appropriate implementation of the recruitment policy.
“The further recruitment processes for all posts in the state will remain stayed in the sense that no further appointments will be made until the roster system is put in place,” a bench headed by chief justice Sanjib Banerjee said in an order on Tuesday, adding, “This will apply across state government agencies and instrumentalities in the state wherever the reservation policy is in vogue.”
The bench warned that the absence of any roster system leaves open possibilities of nepotism and arbitrariness and worse forms of subversions and termed the absence of a roster system as “deplorable state of affairs”.
Lashing against bureaucrats of the state, the court said it was “alarming” that despite 50 years of statehood and an equal number of years of reservation in government jobs, the roster system was absent.
“This bench was constrained to raise a question in course of a recent matter as to how the reservation policy could be implemented without a roster,” it said.
Advocate general Amit Kumar, who was present in the court during the hearing on Tuesday, acknowledged that reservation cannot be implemented without a roster.
While the matter was admitted as a petition by Ms ZR Marak, the bench said the matter will be taken up in the form of a PIL in the next hearing.
{{/usCountry}}While the matter was admitted as a petition by Ms ZR Marak, the bench said the matter will be taken up in the form of a PIL in the next hearing.
{{/usCountry}}The court expressed shock that the same “distressing feature” existed while filling up for various posts in the high court over the last decade of its existence.
The court has also taken note of the “mistakes” in the notifications and official memoranda relied upon by the government and said, “Mistakes that should not have happened if proper mind was applied to the matters in issue.”
The matter will be heard again on April 20, the court said.