Guwahati: The Meghalaya government has formed an expert committee to review the 1972 reservation policy in line with demands made by the opposition Voice of the People’s Party (VPP), officials said on Thursday.
The expert panel is mandated to review the state reservation policy by obtaining views from all stakeholders, Chief Secretary D P Wahlang said in a notification on Thursday.
VPP president Ardent Basaiawmoit had been on an indefinite hunger strike since Tuesday last week seeking the formation of an expert panel to review the reservation policy.
“The chairperson and members of the committee shall consist of experts in constitutional law, economics, sociology, demographic studies and related fields,” it added.
An all-party committee on reservation roster and reservation policy which had met on Wednesday had also supported appointing an expert committee to review the 51-year-old reservation policy.
The 1972 job reservation policy awarded 40 per cent of reserved jobs to Garos, 40 per cent for Khasi-Jaintia tribes, 5 per cent for other tribes and 15 per cent for general category candidates.
Chaired by state Law Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, the all-party committee had also suggested that all political parties should submit their suggestions in writing on the matter within a period of 15 days.
Meanwhile, VPP president Ardent Basaiawmoit called off the indefinite hunger strike that he has been holding for the past 10 days as his demand for setting up a review committee has been met.
Basaiawmoit, however, also demanded that the expert committee members should not have any political linkages whatsoever.
“The experts in the committee should be apolitical,” he declared.