Thirteen employees of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) had their jobs terminated while another 30 were deregularised and made casual workers once again, a move that the Voice of the People Party-led executive committee defended today.
“This decision was not made suddenly. We sat five times before taking this step,” Chief Executive Member Shemborlang Rynjah told reporters.
After the new executive committee took over the reins of the KHADC last year, the CEM formed the committee on administrative streamlining to restructure how the council functions. Rynjah said that this committee deliberated on the KHADC’s service rules, other relevant issues and the appointment of these 43 staff members.
The 13 staff who were sacked had been appointed only last year, while the other 30 had been casual employees before being regularised.
“We found out that these posts were not sanctioned and therefore we took this decision to terminate the 13 employees who were fresh appointees. The 30 others were initially appointed as casual employees and later regularised. We discontinued their services as regularised workers and allowed them to work as casual employees,” Rynjah said, adding that there are around 60 casual workers in the council at present.
Meanwhile, Executive Member Powell Sohkhlet informed that salaries of casual workers are paid through the 15th Finance Commission. According to him, as per Finance Commission norms, out of the total grants given to the district council, only 5 percent can be used to pay salaries for casual employees.
Rynjah today met with the aggrieved staff members, some of whom had been appointed as casual workers in 2009. Speaking to reporters, they informed that they had received an abrupt order on Friday stripping them of their regularised status.
Khrawbor Mawlong, one of the affected staff, expressed frustration, stating that the CEM offered no concrete reasons for their removal. “We have families to feed and nowhere to turn. We demand reinstatement to our regular posts,” he said.
Another affected employee, Jied Blah, questioned what he said was a lack of transparency in the decision-making process. “All this time there were no interviews or advertisements in the KHADC. Why were we only removed?” he asked.
The group is currently deliberating their next course of action.
