Editor,
There is a dark cloud of uncertainty looming over the future of the youths in this land of the rising sun. The recent cash-for-job scam unearthed in the APPSC has shaken the faith of the people in meritocratic system. Not long ago, a similar scam happened in the APSSB, which was brought to justice in a fast-track manner. Since then, the board has recruited thousands of employees under various departments in state government in a free and fair manner. This trend of delivering fast results have, however, been brought to a halt due to the recent case in the Gauhati High Court, Itanagar bench: Nyayom Loyi vs the State of AP & 4 others.
In the abovementioned case, the petitioner has questioned the validity of the district-wise quota in various posts as advertised by the APSSB. Under Article 16 (2) of the Indian Constitution, there has to be equal opportunity for everyone in terms of public employment and no one shall be discriminated against based on religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them. Article 16 (3) too only empowers the Parliament, and not any state legislature, to use residence as a criterion in public employment reservations. In the recently held APSSB CGL Exam 2022, seven out of 12 posts for UDCs in district establishment were reserved exclusively for APSTs of the respective district. This made APST candidates of other districts ineligible for the said seven posts and this violated Article 16 (2) of the Indian Constitution. The court had passed a restraint order on 7 September, 2022 against appointment for these seven district-wise UDC posts only. The skill test for the APSSB CG,L 2022 was on 18 October, 2022, and all eligible candidates were waiting for the final results to come out. However, a notice was soon issued by the APSSB, stating that results won’t be announced until the case gets resolved in court. As such, appointment against 53 vacancies of JICS and UDCs in various departments under general quota too came to a halt.
Those 164 candidates who appeared for skill test have been kept hanging for past three months, waiting for their results. Adding to this, the APSSB has also postponed the recruitment of 700 plus vacancies for constables and head constables till the fate of the district-wise quota is brought to a conclusion by the high court. More than 30,000 candidates for the posts of constables and head constables have been left to their own devices.
Growing unemployment is a rising problem in Arunachal Pradesh. What’s more problematic is the ever increasing number of youths who are losing their faith in the system. The faith upon a constitutional body has fallen to extreme low due to recent cash-for-job scam. Another apex exam conducting body for Group C posts has stopped recruiting new vacancies and is unable to finish its old assignments. Whatever the faith of the district-wise quota may be, all stakeholders should have a proper understanding of the gravity of the situation and how it will affect the future of Arunachal Pradesh.
It’s been five months since the first hearing of Nyayom Loyi vs state of AP & 4 others, and the fate of us aspirants has been kept hanging since then.
“Tareekh pe tareekh” will only bring restlessness in the youths of Arunachal, more so amongst the 164 candidates who appeared for the skill test on 18 October, 2022, and have been waiting for their results since then.
APSSB CGL 2022 candidate