Mokokchung, September 23 (MTNews): In a representation to the minister of Higher Education, Temjen Imna Along, the Nagaland NET Qualified Forum (NNQF) has requested him to reconsider the alleged move to regularize 154 contractual assistant professors.
The forum stated that many eligible candidates are dismayed by the reports made in the recently concluded session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly and claimed that the aspirants have been deprived of the “right to equal opportunity and free-fair competition.”
“The decision show that the system rewards those with the ability to get into the higher education system of Nagaland without going through the proper channel like the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) and Common Educational Service Examination (CESE), or via public advertisement, and at the same time are able to retain themselves in a particular job over the years,” it said.
The forum also highlighted that appointments on contractual basis had been ‘banned via an office memorandum in 2016’ and that, even the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, had also ruled that “any appointment without advertisement and the regularization of (such posts) is unconstitutional and null and void” during a case filed by ACAUT and PSAN.
“The government’s latest move will only be a reflection of disrespect to the existing law and a further violation of the rights of aspirants and equality,” NNQF stated.
The forum also recalled that the court had “dismissed its writ petition filed in 2019” against the backdoor/irregular/contractual appointments in the various departments of Higher Education “not on merit but on the basis of technicalities” and was given the liberty to file a case again through an appropriate writ petition.
Thus, the forum maintained that it will be “misleading for the respondents to claim of winning the case” and said that its latest representation is an appeal to abstain from appointments and regularization on the pretext of the dismissal of the previous petition.
The NNQF said that it would support the idea of age relaxation for the contractual employees so that they can also take part in the “free-fair competition through direct recruitment, NPSC, CESE, along with all other aspirants who have been and are still waiting.”