The MAHUD department, Government of Manipur, has refuted the allegations made by the general secretary of Kangleipak Students Association (KSA) on irregularities in the recruitment to fill up of five vacant posts of Assistant Town Planners and five vacant posts of Assistant Architects on regular basis in Town Planning Department, as reported in some local dailies, and termed it as ill-conceived and factually wrong.
MAHUD additional secretary K Bono Singh issued a clarification regarding the same on Friday, highlighting several facts to clarify the unsubstantiated allegations made by KSA.
It stated that the recruitment process was conducted following compliance of SACI Guidelines which states that completion of recruitment of at least 50 per cent of vacant post of already sanctioned posts in Town Planning Department was one of the three mandatory reforms milestones under the Central government Scheme of Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SACI) 2023-24, Part-III (Urban Reforms) to be achieved by the states in the country on or before February 15, 2024 to get incentives.
It pointed out that the same was approved by state cabinet stating that in order to achieve SACI 2023-24 guidelines the proposal for recruitment, which is one of the mandatory reforms, was placed in the state cabinet held on February 15,2024 and decisions were taken including to fill up five vacant posts of Assistant Town Planners and five vacant posts of Assistant Architects in Town Planning Department on regular basis.
It further stated that since MPSC was not functional at that point of time (January 2024), the Cabinet had also approved the recruitment of the above vacant posts through an ‘Officer’s Level Committee’ and exemption from the purview of MPSC in the recruitment.
It asserted that Concurrence of FD & DP was obtained, noting that the concurrence of Finance Department (FD) vide UO No 200/2023-2024/FD(PIC) dated February 1, 2024 & Department of Personnel (DP) vide UO No 239/2023-24/DP dated February 1, 2024.
It maintained that the decision was conveyed to Chief Town Planner vide Government letter No Srv -201/2/2023-MAHUD-MAHUD dated February 2, 2024.
The statement also said that an Officer’s Level Committee conducted the recruitment and elaborated that an ‘officer’s Level Committee;’was constituted by the State Government vide Order No. Srv -201/2/2023-MAHUD-MAHUD dated February 5, 2024 with Commissioner (MAHUD) as the Chairman, Chief Town Planner and a Representative of DP as members.
It went on to say that the ‘Committee’ in its meeting held on February 7,2024 had decided that since very less number of days (less than 10 days) are left for the timeline to achieve the mandatory urban reforms milestone (that is February 15, 2024) under SACI, the mode of recruitment of five Assistant Town Planners and five Assistant Architects on regular basis in Town Planning Department would be through interview only in consonance with the past precedents of recruitment of Class A & B through Interview as done in 1980, 1985 and 1998.
In the meeting, the ‘Committee’ had fixed the date of interview as February 13, 2024, it said and added that accordingly, the employment notification was issued on February 7, 2024, which was published in some local dailies on February 8 and 9, 2024. The notification was also uploaded at the official website of the Town Planning Department, it noted.
It further said that for the recruitment of five Assistant Town Planners and five posts of Assistant Architects a total of 71 applicants were found eligible to appear in the interview. There has not been any request from any applicant to arrange an alternate location for the interview, or appear online, it asserted.
It also said that all the seven eligible ST candidates had appeared for the interview in person, held on February 13, 2024 under the Chairmanship of Commissioner (MAHUD) with members from DP and Town Planning Department along with Subject Experts from other departments also.
It maintained that the DPC proceeding was submitted to DP for approval of declaration of result, following which approval of DP was accorded vide UO No 288/2023-2024/DP dated March 11, 2024.
Accordingly the result for recruitment of four Assistant Town Planners and five posts of Assistant Architects on regular basis in Town Planning Department was declared by Secretariat MAHUD Department vide Order No Srv 201/2/2023-MANUD-MAHUD-Part(1) dated March 15, 2024, it stated adding that only four posts of Assistant Town Planners were filled up because of non-availability of enough ST candidates for the said posts.
It underlined that written Test was not Mandatory, asserting that there is no Government orders/ OM which provides that for recruitment of Group A & B posts, written test is mandatory, even by MPSC, except when the Recruitment Rules concerned specifically prescribes so. The general practice is that when the number of candidates is large, a Written Test is conducted for shortlisting Candidates for the Interview/ Viva Voce, it said. It reiterated that only a total of 71 candidates applied for the 5 posts of Assistant Town Planners and 5 posts of Assistant Architects.
It further repeated that in previous recruitments of Gazetted Class-A post of Junior Town Planner in 1998 (now re-designated as Assistant Town Planner) and Assistant Architects in 1980 and 1985 in Town Planning Department, MPSC had conducted only the interview of the candidates.
It also clarified regarding selection of Ex-Chief Town Planner’s son, stating that the named ex-Chief Town Planner was not a part of the Officer’s Level Committee which conducted the recruitment. Selection of his son and others was purely based on the merit of the candidate and being a son of the Ex-Chief Town Planner should not be his disqualification for being an Assistant Architect, it maintained.
It pointed out that there were no procedural lapses/ irregularities in the recruitment of four posts of Assistant Town Planners and five posts of Assistant Architects on a regular basis in the Town Planning Department. It urged KSA and the general public not to bear any doubt or misgivings in the aforesaid recruitment process which was conducted without any unlawful/ irregular considerations.
Mention may be made that KSA on Thursday had alleged MAHUD minister and commissioner of failing to renew the recruitment process for various posts recruitment under MAHUD, and demanded their resignation.
KSA general secretary Sanjoy Khullakpam alleged that unfair practices were employed in the recruitment process for assistant town planner and assistant architect of the Town Planning department under MAHUD, hinting at favoritism and nepotism, while stating that the recruitment process which should be done under MPSC was not done.
The general secretary had also said that a complaint on the same was lodged to Manipur chief secretary and MAHUD minister on May 7 but no actions were taken, at the same time lamenting the department’s alleged failure to follow the recruitment guidelines and said that it showed the government’s lack of accountability to abide by the rules.
