Staff Selection Commission withdraws result for Manipur recruitment days after announcing it
Govt. says the withdrawn result had incomplete data; withdrawal comes after outrage over claims of ‘unfair merit list’
The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) on Monday withdrew the final results for the “Constable (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces, SSF, Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles and Sepoy in Narcotics Control Bureau Examination 2022”, just days after announcing it on March 15, saying that a revised final result would soon be published.
In the notice issued by the SSC withdrawing the Manipur results announced on March 15, the government said that given the law and order situation in the State, Physical and Medical Tests were conducted in multiple phases. Consequently, the data from one of these phases was missed in the now-withdrawn result.
The SSC said, “The revised final result in respect of Manipur incorporating the complete data of the candidates will be published shortly.”
Meitei community’s objection
However, this came even as the March 15 final result announced by the SSC had led to a massive uproar from the Meitei community in Manipur over claims of disproportionate Kuki-Zo people being selected. The Joint Action Committee, an Imphal-based civil society organization, also met with Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday for urgent intervention to correct the “unfair merit list.”
The ethnic conflict in Manipur between the dominant valley-based Meitei people and the Scheduled Tribe hills-based Kuki-Zomi people broke out on May 3, 2023, cutting short the Preliminary Eligibility Test/Physical Standards Test that was then being conducted in the State. Subsequently, the tests were conducted in phases and outside the State until November of that year. Of the 3,054 candidates shortlisted for PET/PST, 1,199 candidates could not appear for the tests.
Even as the results were announced for other States in August 2023, the last round of selection for Manipur went on till February 2024, following which, on March 15, the final results for the 597 vacancies in Manipur were declared, showing the selection of 260 candidates as per the reservation roster in place.
According to this result, 150 of the 260 selected candidates were selected under the Scheduled Tribe quota, three were selected under the Other Backward Classes quota, and 107 were selected under the Unreserved category.
Soon after the results were declared, several members of the Meitei community took to social media to express disappointment with the recruitment exercise. The Joint Action Committee (JAC) wrote to Mr. Singh about it on March 17, seeking an urgent meeting.
In the letter, the JAC claimed that the March 15 result showed no candidates from OBC, SC, EWS, and UR categories being selected for the vacancies. When asked about the 107 candidates selected in the Unreserved category, Malemnganba Heisnam, Secretary of the JAC, told The Hindu, “But even within that, most are from ST category who qualified. Those seats should at least be available to us.”
In the March 15 result, out of the 107 UR candidates selected, 101 are from Scheduled Tribes, and six are from Other Backward Classes, who qualified per the criteria for unreserved vacancies.
“We met with the Chief Minister on Monday and were told that the matter would be taken care of and that the authorities concerned would be contacted,” Mr. Heisnam said and further explained, “Many candidates who have qualified have not been selected. From all categories, including ST, there seem to be candidates who have not been selected despite getting the marks.”
