ITANAGAR, 21 Oct: The Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum (AITF) has asked the state government to completely overhaul the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APSSC).
A Joint Consultative Forum (JCF) meeting of the AITF was held here on Friday to discuss the prevailing situation in view of the APPSC engineering examination paper leak scam. Briefing the media afterwards, AITF president Bengia Tolum said that “there should be a fresh beginning at the APPSC.”
“Right from peon to the top official, everyone should be removed from the commission, so that a fresh start is made. Chairman Nippo Nabam has resigned and we expect other members also to resign,” said Tolum.
He warned that the government and the commission members would be responsible if the anger of the youths spills onto the streets. “During the anti-PRC agitation, there was chaos in the streets of the capital. Right now also, there is considerable anger among the youths. To give them confidence, there should be a complete overhaul of the commission and a new beginning has to be made,” he said.
During the meeting, the JCF adopted several resolutions “in the greater interest of the people of Arunachal Pradesh,” and a letter was submitted to the chief minister, detailing the resolutions.
“If in case the commission members do not exit themselves immediately, it shall be construed that they are not cooperating in the state’s interest in revamping the present corrupt system in the APPSC, and the existing members of the APPSC shall be solely held responsible if any untoward incidents happen in the state because of their non-cooperation in reforming the APPSC.
“The state government may impress upon the other four members of the APPSC to voluntarily resign,” the letter read.
The JCF also asked the state government to immediately convene a special session of the state legislative assembly “to impeach and recommend to the president of India through the office of the governor of Arunachal Pradesh for immediate removal of the existing members of the APPSC and reconstituting a new team of APPSC afresh in a transparent manner within a time-bound period of 10 days.”
The AITF further demanded “constitution of an independent search committee for the preparation of a panel of nominees for appointment as members and chairman of the APPSC.”
The forum also suggested appointing an expert as a consultant on a contract basis for a few years.
“Since a few years back, the state government has been appointing consultant in the finance department on a contract basis, and in the same way, the APPSC may appoint a few experts from among the retired officers of the UPSC as consultants for a few years (3-5 years) to infuse a new and robust system in the APPSC to regain the public’s confidence,” it added.
Lastly, the forum called upon the state government to “initiate a one-time upper-age relaxation for all the aspiring APPSC/APSSB candidates for 2022-2023, so that all the aspirants can appear in the next written examination.”
