Shillong, Aug 25: Meghalaya will bring a common recruitment framework for all District Selection Committees (DSCs) with the aim to complete recruitment within six months of advertisement, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma told the Assembly on Tuesday.
He was responding to a short-duration discussion on VPP’s 10-point charter moved by Nongkrem MLA Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit.
Under the proposed SOP, DSCs must finalise vacancies and reservation roster before starting recruitment. Advertisements must mention eligibility, syllabus, qualifying marks and stages of selection.
Members involved must submit conflict-of-interest declarations and confidentiality undertakings. A local-language proficiency test with minimum 30 out of 100 marks will be mandatory.
Provisional answer keys will be released within seven days of exam for online objections. Where interviews apply, weightage will be capped at 12.5 per cent of total marks. Interviews for Group D posts have been removed and government plans to discontinue them for other non-technical posts where legally permissible.
On MPSC, Sangma said its constitutional independence remains protected but reforms have been introduced after a committee set up in November 2024.
Recruitment advertisements now mention syllabus, process and candidate-vacancy ratio, scrutiny is done via automated software, OMR sheets are tamper-proof and auditable, answer keys are published within seven days for objections, and stage-wise marks are uploaded.
He declined to comment on a specific recruitment case saying it is sub judice.
Over 9,000 vacancies were advertised in the last three years — 1,101 through MPSC, 2,413 police through Central Recruitment Board, 769 doctors through Medical Services Recruitment Board and 1,686 through DSCs.
On re-employment of retired staff, he said it is limited to statutory bodies like State Information Commission, Food Commission, Public Service Delivery Commission and RERA needing specialised expertise.
On ad hoc regularisation, he said appointments without prescribed process cannot be automatically regularised; those appointed before December 2007 have been regularised as per SC framework.
On muster-roll workers, payment regularity has improved though delays remain in some cases.
On TET, Sangma said it is mandated by central law and SC judgment, not state policy. State has filed a review petition against retrospective application and is holding TET regularly till the matter is decided.
On Private College Act, 2025, he said it does not remove service protection of staff. Government spends Rs 186 crore annually on salaries of 1,661 lecturers in private colleges and is reviewing salary disparities.
