The Federation of Khasi, Jaiñtia and Garo People (FKJGP) have alleged that the results of the Grade IV and Lower Division Assistant job application process have been manipulated in a way that goes against the state’s job reservation policy.
The results were declared on February 5 and 19 respectively in West Garo Hills.
According to the job reservation policy, 40 per cent of seats are reserved for the Garo community while another 40 per cent are reserved for the Khasi-Jaiñtia community. A further 5 per cent of seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and other tribes while the remaining 15 per cent is open to the general category.
In a complaint today, the pressure group said that the general category had been manipulated in that every seat went to members of unreserved communities, with none going to the Garo, Khasi-Jaiñtia or other reserved groups.
“The general category is not a reserved category for the non-tribal community and seats should be allotted solely based on the merits of the individual candidates regardless of their community or tribe as the policy dictates,” FKJGP zonal President Pritam Arengh said, adding that the authorities may have “misread or misinterpreted the guidelines and either inadvertently or intentionally not adhered to it. We suspect the latter to be more accurate.”
He further demanded that the appointment process for the posts be put on hold and a reevaluation of the eligibility of candidates for the general category be immediately carried out.
“We also demand an independent inquiry as to why such an anomaly was committed and who are the ones responsible for it,” he asserted.
