Shillong, Apr 23: Members of the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) today met Chief Secretary Shakhil Ahmmed where they alleged nepotism in the appointment of daily wage workers by the Secretariat Administrative Department (N), and sought urgent action to fill hundreds of vacant sanctioned posts.
In the memorandum, KHNAM working president Thomas Passah cited RTI replies from SAD(N), SAD(E), and SAD(Accts) to highlight what he described as discrepancies in employment records and sudden discontinuation of long-serving casual workers.
According to KHNAM, as on November 20, 2025, there were 107 vacant sanctioned posts in SAD(N), including 81 peons, two chowkidars, two malis, 17 cleaners and five sweepers.
A separate reply from SAD(E) dated November 26, 2025, showed 325 vacancies, including 137 LDAs, 128 typists, 32 Stenographer Grade II, 17 Stenographer Grade III and 11 drivers.
“After careful verification, we found that the numbers of daily wage employees from April 2023 to September 2025 provided by SAD(Accts) did not match the list received from the Under Secretary, SAD(N), for the same period,” Passah stated in the letter.
The party noted that SAD(N) engages 121 to 139 casual employees on daily wages each month. However, it claimed that close to 10 employees, whose names appeared every month till November 2025, “have disappeared” from subsequent lists.
“We have noticed names of employees, whose name was mentioned in every month without any gap and we have been informed that they are relatives of officials of the department or individuals appointed by officials,” the letter said.
KHNAM further alleged that some casual workers with over 10 years of service were terminated instead of being conferred regular casual worker (RCW) status under the Regular Casual Worker Scheme 1996.
“There are occasions when the department stops the service of selected employee(s) but they are called back after a month or two. However, after November 2025 we have observed that there are employees who were never called back, instead new individuals are called to replace them,” Passah wrote.
KHNAM requested the Chief Secretary to consider the “unemployment crisis” of Meghalaya’s youth and fill up the vacancies at the earliest opportunity.
It also urged that the senior and old casual employees who were not called back after November 25 to be recalled as they are the bread earners of their families.
