‘Anomalies in Food & Civil Supplies Dept – I’

Morung Express: Dimapur: Monday, February 29, 2016.

Various anomalies have been detected in the appointments of Grade III staff in the Department of Food & Civil Supplies, Government of Nagaland from January 2003 till November 2015.

The anomalies were unearthed through an RTI application filed by social activist, Wedieu Kronu who persistently approached the Department to furnish complete and satisfactory answers with regard to staff appointments, public distribution system and stockists of BPL, APL, AAY Kerosene, Sugar etc.

Besides delays in furnishing the required information, most of the replies provided by the department were incomplete, unsatisfactory or requiring additional RTI applications to higher authority.

This first series of ‘Anomalies in Food & Civil Supplies Department – I’ will focus on the “irregular appointments” made by the Department without requisitioning it to the NPSC. Out of the 117 (originally 118 in Annex ‘A’ but it is reproduced here as 117 since one name was repeated) appointments of Grade III staff made in the Department during the period 2003-2015, only eight of them were appointed through the NPSC. The Department appointed the rest 109 persons without requisitioning it to the NPSC as was required.

Of the eight, six were Inspectors while the other two were a Store Keeper (SK) and an LDA. While proper information like NPSC advertisement, declaration of NPSC results etc were furnished in respect of the appointments of the six Inspectors, no documentary evidence was provided for the appointments of SK and LDA, although their appointments were stated to be made “Through NPSC.”

The appointments of SK and LDA (serial no 98, 99) were shown to be made on 31/8/2012 but lacked documentary evidence unlike that of the six Inspectors whose appointments were also shown to be made ‘Through NPSC’ and accordingly substantiated by documentary evidence and proof.

“If all the six Inspectors, SK and LDA were appointed through NPSC, then why was no documentary proof provided in the case of SK and LDA unlike the appointment of six Inspectors?” queried Wedie Kronu, who is also the President of recently launched Nagaland Public Rights Awareness and Action Forum (NPRAAF). She said that the issue of anomalies and irregularities in F&CS Department would be taken up under the banner of NPRAAF. Subsequently, the Forum would also take up similar issues in other departments and public establishments.

Of the 109 appointed, the maximum were SKs totalling to 51, 32 LDAs, 23 Sub Inspectors of Supply and 1 Driver.

An astonishing case of mode of appointment in respect of serial no 110 as furnished by the department in Annexure ‘A’ read like this, “As per the Administrative approval of the Govt. Vide No. SPLY – 10/04/2013 (Pt) dt. 30/2/2014.” However, the date 30/2/2014 is non-existent in calendar of the year 2014.

Further, out of the 109 appointed, the Department furnished approval/appointment letters only for 36 of them. Most of the 36 appointments were made against retirement, promotion and demise of employees. The rest 73 appointed were not supported with approval/appointment letters even as the Department was requested to furnish it. Out of the 73 appointed, one appointee has expired.

The information furnished against some of these appointments also pointed to irregularities as the dates of appointments superseded official order/approval of appointment issued by the Department as in the cases of serial nos 66, 67 and 68. The appointments for the mentioned three serial numbers were shown to be made on 23/8/2010 and 24/9/2010. However, the decision of the P&AR Department to appoint them was arrived at only the next year, which was dated 5/3/2011.

“Such abnormalities clearly showed that some appointments were already made even before the Department issued appointment orders,” pointed out the RTI applicant.

Except merely mentioning the modes of appointments, the Department did not produce complete necessary documentary evidence or proof to substantiate its replies.

The dates of appointments were not mentioned in the cases of serial nos 116, 117 and 118. Some other appointments did not show, as through which letter and date were they appointed.

The Department was also asked to furnish the question papers, mention interview board members, date, venue and time of exam/interview conducted. However, such details were also not furnished in detail.

Almost all the dates of appointments shown in Annexure ‘A’ and ‘C’ against the same persons did not match. This raised question regarding their actual date of appointment, as the two annexure provided different dates of appointments, some of which were years apart.

One case as shown in serial no 7 under ADS Office Zunheboto had mentioned the date of birth as 12/08/1979 while the date of appointment was shown to be 09/01/1980, thus projecting that the employee was hardly five months old infant.

“There are numerous other mistakes in the information furnished by the Department and it clearly shows that the officials had tried to cover up irregularities by providing contrasting and misleading information,” the NPRAAF maintained.

“Whereas it is subject to strict scrutiny as to whether the 36 appointments (with endorsing letters) were made under the provisions of certain percentage reserved for internal appointment against promotions, retirements etc, the Department must immediately cancel all other backdoor appointments which were not routed through NPSC,” NPRAAF demanded.

The NPRAAF has affirmed to pursue the matter until the appointment irregularities and other errors committed in the Department are comprehensively addressed. “Until all backdoor appointments and other irregularities are brought to logical conclusions, the issue will not be put to rest,” affirmed the NPRAAF President.

As per the information furnished in Annexure ‘C’ there are a total number of 535 employees under F&CS Department in the Directorate and districts combined.