The Khasi Students Union (KSU) has stated that the State Directorate of Forensic Science has violated rules for recruitment of 27 posts by imposing an eligibility criteria not found in the Meghalaya Forensic Science Laboratory Services Rules, 2021.
The directorate through an advertisement dated September 19 invited applications for the post of Scientific Officer, Senior Scientific Assistant, and scientific assistant in the Mobile Forensic Crime with master’s degree in forensic science as eligibility criteria that a candidate must possess.
However, the KSU said unlike other states of the country where candidates, who have a master degree in any science subjects such as physics, chemistry, zoology, etc., can apply, the directorate chose to put up the eligibility criteria, which is illegal.
As per the Meghalaya Forensic Science Laboratory Services Rules, 2021, a candidate applying for the posts are required to have a degree in any general science stream and not restricted to having a degree in forensic sciences, the KSU said.
“Thus, the directorate pursuing with the eligibility criteria of having a master degree in forensic science is in conflict with the existing rules and thus it is highly illegal and in contempt of deviating from the prescribed law,” the union added.
Pointing out that institutes in the State does not offer master’s degree in forensic science and students who want to pursue the course have to go outside the KSU said, “Only a person with a sustainable financial background would be able to pursue the course, whereas a person coming from a financially weaker section cannot. Moreover, there are only a handful of students from Meghalaya who pursue this course, and with the number of vacancies, perhaps it may not be able to fill up the vacancies.”
The KSU said that a similar criteria was also laid for the contractual appointment for the post of scientific officers and others in December 2023 that required a candidate to have a degree in forensic science. This was done only to limit the opportunities of sciences students coming from another discipline and favour some candidates who are backed up by politicians and bureaucrats to enter into such posts by changing the eligibility criteria, it added.
Unhappy with these findings, members of the employment and monitoring cell of the KSU met with Director of the directorate N Nongkynrih and demanded changes in the advertisement and to scrap the eligibility criteria.
