Nagaland’s ongoing controversy over the induction of State officers into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) has taken a sharper turn, with retired Transport Commissioner T Meren Paul issuing a detailed statement questioning what truly constitutes merit in the State’s bureaucracy.
Paul’s commentary, released on November 2, comes amid the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of Service Associations’ sustained opposition to what it calls a “choose-and-pick system” of IAS nomination. The JCC – comprising CANSSEA, FONSESA, NIDA, NSSA, and NF&ASA – has accused the government of bypassing fair recruitment norms, while the State Cabinet, through Power and Parliamentary Affairs Minister KG Kenye, maintains that its decisions are within the law.
“It was quite amusing to read the statement of the State government justifying to perpetuate the old practice,” Paul wrote, referring to the Cabinet’s positions published on October 17 and October 31. “The audacity of the Hon’ble Minister and spokesperson of the government that entry into service is not the determining factor is debatable.”
Kenye had stated that, according to the IAS (Recruitment) Rules 1954 and DoPT guidelines 1997, the determining criteria for IAS induction are merit, integrity, Annual Performance Reports, and at least eight years of substantive gazetted service. The mode of entry – whether through the Public Service Commission (PSC) or otherwise “is not a determining factor.”
Paul countered that interpretation by citing Rule 8(2) of the 1954 Rules, arguing that the rule presumes entry through open competition.
“There is only one mode of entry to the Government service, which is through open competitive examination by dint of merit,” he said. “There is no provision in any Service Rule about backdoor appointment.”
He added that the government’s interpretation “may hold nowhere else in India,” where entry to State service is universally through the PSC.
Recalling earlier bureaucratic struggles, Paul noted that individual associations once avoided confronting such irregularities.
“In the past, CANSSEA alone pursued extension of the retirement age, but refused to take part when the issue was about retirement after 35 years of service,” he wrote. “This time, having realised enough is enough, the Service Associations have joined hands to correct the past mistakes.”
Paul also offered a detailed chronology of earlier IAS inductions from Nagaland’s State services from I Chubanensala of the Education Department to A Shanmugam of the Secretariat Stenographers Service, and later Er R Kevichusa and T Imchen from the Agriculture Department.
He recalled objecting to a 1980s induction process in which, he alleged, the Personnel & Administrative Reforms (P&AR) Department “circulated the vacancy notification to selected departments only,” denying equal opportunity to other officers.
“The then Chief Secretary told me he could not do anything,” Paul wrote. “Maybe because of my representation, the next vacancy was circulated more widely.”
Even then, he alleged, his name was omitted from the panel because two of his Annual Confidential Reports were graded Very Good instead of Outstanding.
“Many Reporting Officers give ‘Outstanding’ for doing normal routine duties,” he remarked. “When grading Outstanding, the officer must specify the actual achievement.”
Paul, who cleared the Nagaland Public Service Commission exam in 1975 and later led the computerization of the Transport Department, reflected on how innovation was often ignored in evaluating performance.
“Nagaland was the first State in India to computerize the National Permit Register and issue computerized driving licences – five years before Vahan was introduced nationally,” he wrote, adding that Transport Department revenue rose from below Rs 1 crore in 1989 to over Rs 125 crore today.
Despite those milestones, he said, his nomination for the Governor’s Gold Medal was rejected because his post was deemed equivalent in pay to an Additional Secretary’s.
“I was told I was not entitled because of my pay scale. The irony is that the Additional Secretary is not a field officer, but I was,” he stated.
Paul urged the JCC to take the matter to court to end “interpretative confusion” between the bureaucracy and the State’s legal advisers.
“Under the present circumstances, it would be befitting on the part of the JCC to seek legal opinion and prefer a writ petition before the Hon’ble High Court,” he wrote, adding that the issue “should be settled once and for all.”
While clarifying that his statement was made ”without prejudice to any person,” Paul closed with a pointed question that continues to resonate through Nagaland’s corridors of power: “Having faced and experienced similar instances of disappointment, I am still wondering – what constitutes merit in public service in Nagaland, and why do we choose to perpetuate past mistakes instead of rectifying them?”
The JCC, formed earlier this year, has twice rejected the State government’s stance on IAS induction, insisting that only officers who entered service through the Public Service Commission should qualify for nomination to the All India Service. With both sides standing firm, the standoff has turned into one of Nagaland’s most significant bureaucratic confrontations in recent years.
(Read the full article by T. Meren Paul, Former Transport Commissioner, hereAMP)