Editor,
As per the Office Memorandum (OM) issued by the government of Meghalaya vide 0M No PER (AR) 71/2025/1 dated September 25th, 2025, the State government has, by the pattern of SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), impelled all the Ad-hoc appointees who joined services post the deadline of December 31st, 2007, whose numbers may touch 2000 or thereabouts must have to undergo fresh recruitment test/examination through MPSC, DSC or other duly authorized Boards/Committees. Indubitably, Ad-hoc appointments had been prohibited in any state government offices since 1978 since the same violated the extant Meghalaya Reservation policy.
Be that as it may, a pertinent question may arise as to how Ad-hoc appointees, for instance, absorbed effectively from January 1st, 2008, now more than 17 years ago, some may have attained 50 years of age, hardly few years into their terms/retirement now have to appear such exams to be conducted by the MPSC/ DSC, etc. At that age, will it not be next to impossible for these Ad-hoc appointees to revisit those matric-standard courses on Arithmetic, English, etc on which they have long since forgotten about?
To make matters more problematic, a substantial percentage of them have received these official facilities, no different from the methodically/legitimately appointed personnel, like-:
a) Availing pay revision hike in respect of time-scale structures more than once
b) An annual basic pay increments
c) Receiving house building advances
d) Contributing to monthly GPF (General Provident Fund)
e) Granted medical reimbursement
f) Allowed to draw festival advances
g) Availing of children education advances
h) Opening of service- book
Besides the foregoing service packages bestowed in favour of the Ad-hoc workers there may be much else which we may not be aware of. In essence, the aforesaid-highlighted provisions are in essence, the exclusive reserves of the bona-fide appointees, who have successfully qualified through MPSC/DSC or other authorized Committees etc. When all is said and done, who is to be held accountable for such appalling lapses: Is it the Administrative powers in tandem with Head of the departments or those at the political helm? Now the seismic fault-lines may crop up. What may be the fate of those Ad-hoc appointees who have served post the cut off date but are beneficiaries to all existing official allowances in question? On top of that, what could transpire if several of these workers bite the dust in MPSC /DSC etc exams, who have to indemnify their house building advances since received with substantial pending sums against their respective names? Lot of ‘how’ and ‘why’ may arise. Succinctly speaking, their careers may become upended. To recapitulate the narratives, what could be the ramifications if these aggrieved Ad-hoc workers take recourse to the Court of law is but anyone’s guess!
JK Diengdoh
Lower Mawprem
Via e-mail
