Shillong, Aug 26: The state cabinet met today and decided on measures to amend the job recruitment process as well as institute changes to the Migrant Workers Rules.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that the state government had earlier removed interviews for Group D posts based on recommendations of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and state reforms commission, and the cabinet has now decided to remove interviews from certain Group C posts also.
“This is for non-technical posts. There are certain technical posts under Group C also. Those will still continue and that list of what is technical and non-technical, the Personnel Department will clarify,” the CM said.
He added that, as the procedure requires amendments in different service rules, the government is giving four months to complete the administrative process. The decision will be applicable from January 1, 2027. Advertisements issued after that date will have no interviews for Group C non-technical posts.
Third, Sangma said the cabinet has created standard operating procedures (SOPs) for District Selection Committees (DSCs).
“DSCs are functioning in all districts and sometimes basic steps or procedures are missed out. To ensure that does not happen, cabinet today has approved SOPs that will be followed by all DSCs,” he said, adding that Deputy Commissioners and concerned officials will be called for special training to implement the SOPs, which will later be extended to other recruitment boards like medical, rural development and police.
The cabinet also approved an amendment to rules for the Meghalaya Identification, Registration, Safety and Security of Migrant Workers. The Meghalaya Governor had made certain observations and new provisions were made to accommodate those. “At the same time, there are more aspects of clarity in terms of definition of officers and procedure of how they will implement this act,” he said.
The rules now give more clarity on concerned officials who can conduct inspections, how inspections will be carried out, different powers officials have and actions they can take, including imposing fines, imprisonment and legal actions.
The very first item on the agenda was an amendment in the Disaster Management Department where thunderstorms and strong winds, other than cyclones, have been notified as state/local disasters. In the past, officials categorised strong winds that caused damage as cyclones in order for them to meet the criteria of a disaster. To give clarity, thunderstorms and strong winds have also been included in the disaster list.
Speaking on the fifth agenda, the CM said the Meghalaya Flood Plain Zoning Rules 2026 were approved. The act pertaining to these rules had already been passed and the rules had to be introduced in order to implement the act.
On the sixth decision, the Chief Minister said the cabinet has approved creation of a land bank in Mawkyrwat.
“If you remember, when the district was formed about 11 or 12 years back, funds were given to all those districts to create a land bank to create their office and administrative setup. Some districts utilized the money and some did not,” he said.
Sangma said the money for Mawkyrwat had been lying dormant for over 10 years as a decision was not made on the land bank.
“About a year back, we had cleared the land bank for Mawkyrwat. Today we have decided on the land bank that is in Mawkyrwat and this was done as per procedures followed at Deputy Commissioner’s level, where expression of interest and other procedures were called and site visits were made, and based on that two proposals were sent to us,” he said.
Approximately 15 acres of land at Mawten, located about 6km from the district headquarters, costing Rs 2.19 crore, has been finalised for the land bank for district administration in Mawkyrwat, with the money already available with the DC.
