Reported by: Mrinal Banik

Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday said the state government was taking steps on the recruitment of TET-qualified candidates and urged them to refrain from protests, even as a group of aspirants gave the government a one-week ultimatum to complete their appointments.

The aspirants, who have been waiting for recruitment for over a year, said at a press conference that they would march towards the Chief Minister’s residence on September 24 if their demand for appointments was not met.

Saha said he had already instructed the concerned department to take necessary steps regarding the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) examinations and pending recruitments.

“I don’t think the qualified candidates should hold protest marches and agitations unnecessarily. I would suggest that they avoid such exercises because they are not required at all. Our department and the government have already been working on that,” he said.

The Chief Minister said candidates who had qualified would get jobs on the basis of their eligibility and not because of participation in protests.

“Those who have qualified the exams shall definitely get jobs. They will get jobs not because they are participating in agitations and protests; they will get jobs because they are eligible to get jobs,” Saha said.

Asked about concerns raised by aspirants over delays despite vacant posts, Saha acknowledged that an adequate number of vacancies were available.

He said the government had provided 21,000 to 22,000 permanent government jobs during the past eight years, with teaching posts accounting for a major share.

Saha said the government was also required to take into account the interests of existing employees while making new recruitments.

“Despite facing financial constraints, we are trying to give all benefits to the employees. The DA and DR gap with the central government is also getting bridged gradually,” he said.

He said the government had to balance the needs of serving employees with those seeking fresh recruitment.

The TET-qualified aspirants, meanwhile, claimed that they had repeatedly attempted to meet the Chief Minister and the Education Minister but had failed to secure an opportunity to present their demands.

“Our primary intention is to express our concerns directly to the Chief Minister. Instead of giving us an opportunity, we have been detained, thwarted and threatened to avoid organising any movements,” one of the aspirants’ leaders said.

The group claimed that around 40,000 candidates had appeared for the examination and 1,856 had qualified. They said no pre-recruitment procedure had been completed for the successful candidates since then.

The aspirants also alleged that the Teachers’ Recruitment Board, Tripura (TRBT), was responsible for delays in the recruitment process. They claimed that matters which could have been resolved by the board using its discretionary powers were instead taken to court, resulting in further delays.

Referring to two instances, the aspirants alleged that a dispute over a repeated question and another concerning acceptance of NIOS D.El.Ed degrees had gone to court after the TRBT declined to address their concerns. They claimed the board subsequently lost the cases.

The aspirants further claimed that 10 to 12 questions were challenged on average every year and alleged that the board was citing court cases as a reason for the delay in recruitment.

Saha, meanwhile, said the government had to ensure that appointments made were not subsequently challenged on legal grounds.

He also said government jobs were preferred over other occupations by a large section of people in the state.

The aspirants have set September 24 as the date for their proposed march if their demand for appointments is not fulfilled.