The Nagaland government on Monday suspended partial lifting of appointments till further orders following the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, order of September 1 in this connection.
The government asked all the departments to comply with the order.
The high court suspended the State personnel and administrative reforms department’s July 16 notification allowing 76 departments to conduct departmental exams in response to a PIL filed by the Rising People’s Party (RPP) on August 31.
In the PIL, the RPP sought revocation of the government notification and making of the Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) functional.
A bench comprising Justice Songkhupchung Serto and Justice S Hukato Swu suspended the notification and gave four weeks to the State government to file a reply.
The RPP said its counsel Neiteo Koza submitted before the court that the NSSB had already been constituted by the State government and rules framed, which became effective from the day it was notified on July 31, 2020.
Koza said the motive in keeping the NSSB non-functional for such a long period seemed intentional and questionable.
The party demanded that all recruitments to Group C posts must be conducted through NSSB for fairness and transparency.
It alleged that the July 16 government notification was solely aimed at justifying ‘rampant backdoor appointments’.
Raising objection to the notification, the party, in an appeal letter submitted to the chief secretary’s office on August 13, requested that the notification be revoked and also demanded operationalisation of the NSSB.
“However, the government seems to have turned a deaf ear to the proposal,” it said.
The RPP demanded that the vacant posts be advertised and filled only through the Nagaland Public Service Commission and NSSB recruitment exams in order to facilitate the practice of a fair and just recruitment process.