The Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) comprising CANSSEA, FONSESA, NIDA, NSSA and NF&ASA has issued a detailed press statement clarifying its position on the ongoing Pen Down Strike over the issue of IAS induction from the Non-State Civil Service (Non-SCS). While acknowledging “overwhelming support from various individuals and organisations,” the JCC said it was issuing the statement to address “some misinformation surrounding the issue” and to “shed light on the matter in the interest of public.”
The committee explained that under the IAS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954, induction into the IAS from State Services happens through two channels—State Civil Service (SCS), such as the Nagaland Civil Service (NCS), and Non-State Civil Service (Non-SCS), which includes officers holding equivalent gazetted posts of merit and service. It added that “the total number of senior IAS positions in any state is subject to a quota system. At most 33.33% of these positions can be filled via promotion/induction from State Services (State Civil Service and Non-State Civil Service combined). Within this one-third quota, up to 15%… can be reserved for the Non-SCS to which Non-SCS officers may be selected.”
According to the JCC, the selection process for Non-SCS officers is “more stringent.” Beyond basic eligibility, they must demonstrate “outstanding merit and ability” as laid out in the IAS Regulations, making such induction “a rare and highly competitive process.”
The controversy stems from a Vacancy Circular issued by the Government on March 10, 2025, which, in Clause No. 4, “unequivocally limited eligibility to candidates recruited into Government Service through the NPSC.” Applicants were given 15 days to apply. “However, 1 (One) day after the last day of submission the Vacancy Circular was withdrawn on the 25th March 2025 without any justifiable reason,” the JCC stated. Service Associations raised concerns of “procedural manipulation,” which were “confirmed when in an extraordinary turn of events, the State Cabinet convened a meeting on the 27th March 2025 and directed the P&AR Department to re-advertise the Vacancy Circular as per Central Guidelines.”
“What is baffling,” the statement noted, “is that, the same exact Vacancy Circular was good enough to be utilised for induction of Non-SCS officers for the Select List of 2019 in the year 2020 and till the 24th March 2025 until it was found to be defective and replaced. This sequence of events exposes a deep and troubling reality that the State Cabinet can be mobilised overnight to serve vested interest.”
The JCC strongly argued that “backdoor appointees having bypassed this mandatory and fundamental process, cannot claim such merit and lack the legitimacy required for entry into government service, leave alone being inducted into the IAS.” It stressed that institutions like the NPSC exist “to ensure merit-based recruitment through transparent and fair procedures consistent with the principle of meritocracy while preventing arbitrary appointments, favouritism and discrimination in public employment.”
“The Government’s arrogant and self-righteous stance on this issue hinges on the hollow argument that the DoPT Guidelines are silent on the NPSC criteria for induction into the IAS,” the statement asserted. “This is not a principled defence of meritocracy but it is a calculated attempt to cloak blatant favouritism and nepotism in the language of procedure.”
The committee added, “Silence in the DOPT Guidelines is not a consent for making backdoor appointees eligible, it is a gap that should be filled with fairness and merit which existed in the Circular Vacancy of 10th March 2025. By conveniently exploiting the absence of any explicit mention of the NPSC in the Guidelines, they are undermining the spirit of the very merit-based principles the DoPT upholds, all to secure positions for their favoured candidate(s).”
Calling the ongoing Pen Down Strike “a call to awaken the conscience of the Government, the general public and the student community who are striving for MERIT,” the JCC reiterated that the issue is rooted in principles of fairness, transparency, and meritocracy in public service.
The statement was issued “in public interest” by the Joint Coordination Committee of CANSSEA, FONSESA, NIDA, NSSA and NF&ASA.