[Indrajit Tingwa]
NAMSAI Aug 6: Taking strong exception to “illegal appointments in the public health engineering & water supply department, Namsai division,” the All Tai Khamti and Singpho Students’ Union has written a complaint letter to the chief secretary, through the Namsai deputy commissioner, regarding the matter.
In the letter, which it submitted to the DC on Thursday, the union alleged that several persons have been illegally appointed as casual and temporary casual workers in the department.
It demanded “immediate suspension of all illegal backdoor appointees,” and sought action against the officials involved in appointing those persons.
As per the appointment orders accessed by the union and made available to this correspondent, at least three persons were appointed during the lockdown period.
The union claimed that the department “has been randomly recruiting contingency, ad hoc and casual staffs without conducting any interviews or selection tests as per laid down rules and regulations.”
It further stated that, while 80 percent of group C and D and multitasking posts should have been filled up by APST candidates of the district concerned, “contrarily, 80 percent of the posts are absorbed by non-APSTs and APSTs of other districts.”
The union stated that such random, illegal recruitments have taken away opportunities from the local indigenous people who are unemployed.
“Moreover, without advertisements, the youths are unable to avail the benefits of the posts in the department and as such, locals are deprived of their rights,” it said.
It said numerous representations were submitted to the PHE&WS department earlier for appointing local indigenous youths but no action was taken.
The union also called for “stopping appointments on compensatory grounds due to deaths of close ones,” stating that if the trend continues, it would become “a hereditary post.”
