Shillong, April 1: The A.chik Holistic Awakening Movement (AHAM) has urged upon the leaders and pressure groups of Khasi and Jaintia Hills region to accept and respect the verdict of the court since it is for the benefit of the people of the Meghalaya as a whole.
Referring to the High court order on April 5, 2022, AHAM president, Geogrprince Momin stated that the court had stayed further recruitment process for all post in the state and also directed that no further appointments will be made until the Roster System is put in place.
He further stated that court further directed that the rosters are prepared in respect of all post whereupon after applying the reservation policy and further directed that future recruitment can be conducted by adhering to the ratio of reservation.
“From the plain reading of the High Court order it indicates that due to the absence of the roster system the reservation policy in Meghalaya have not been properly implemented and due to improper implementation of reservation policy many genuine candidate from reserve category have been deprived of getting their job. The High Court also indicates that in absence of roster system have created the scope for nepotism, arbitrariness, irregularities and manipulation and political favoritism in the recruitment process,” Momin stated.
Responding to the court directive, AHAM president said that the state government has issued an office memorandum on May 10 last year for maintenance of reservation roster.
“In Para-6 of the office memorandum dated 10.05.2022 which read after every recruitment cycle an account shall be noted in the reservation roster indicating representation of Khasi and Jaintia, Garo, Other STs & SCs and details of backlog reserved vacancies, which will be carried forward to the next recruitment cycle,” he said.
Momin further stated that the para-7 of the office memorandum also clearly mentions that reservation roster is only to ensure the implementation of the reservation policy, which meant the roster system is a mechanism/instrument/system/tool for implementation of the reservation policy.
According to him, this was even admitted by the learned Advocate General of Government of Meghalaya whereby he submitted and acknowledged before the Division Bench at the time of hearing that reservation cannot be implemented without a roster, whereby he also referred to the relevant Constitution Bench Judgment reported at(1995) 2 SCC 745 (R.K Sabharwal Vs. State of Punjab).
“We are of the view that there is nothing wrong in order passed by the high court directing the state government to prepare the roster system for proper implementation of reservation policy in the state of Meghalaya. The Judiciary is an independent and it is the mandate of law that the government implement the court’s order by putting the roster system in place to implement the reservation policy effectively and meaningfully,” AHAM president added.
