It would not be so easy to increase the age limit for applicants to state government jobs, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said in the Assembly today.
Sangma was replying to a resolution brought by North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum on the issue.
While increasing the age limit would give further chances to aspiring candidates, including those who had failed to make the cut in previous attempts, it would also discourage younger aspirants who have just graduated, the CM said.
“It may be pointed out that there are uniformed services (like the police) which have set a physical standard for recruitment. Increasing the upper age limit for such posts is not practical,” Sangma stated.
Other problems with the idea like in the fact that junior Meghalaya Civil Service officers have to be fit enough for physically demanding roles. The Chief Minister explained that a junior officer can spend the first 10-15 years of service in the field.
“He or she is responsible for performing field work consisting of inquiries, conducting inquests, inspecting development work, surveying revenue matters, providing relief in the event of an outbreak of any natural calamity and maintaining law and order, which, sometimes, needs certain physical standards of performance,” Sangma said.
Bringing in older new recruits would have other implications – giving them less time to garner experience and fewer avenues of promotion, as well as affecting the pension such officials would be able to draw on after retirement.
“With the introduction of the new defined pension scheme where the pension benefit is based solely on the factor of contribution, retirement benefits might not be viable for an individual with fewer years of service,” he said.
Earlier, moving the resolution, Nongrum said that the current upper age limit for entry into a government job of 32 years for Scheduled Tribes was suited for decades past when there were fewer educated youths and jobs were plenty.
“Hence, we have to adapt to the ever changing times, as other states in India have done so far as age eligibility is concerned,” the MLA said.
Nongrum suggested that Meghalaya should have an upper age limit of 34 years with four years relaxation for Khasi, Jaintia and Garo applicants and a 40-year upper age limit for those applying for the MCA and police.
