Kohima, Aug 18 : The Government today appealed to the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) to drop their opposition to the special recruitment concerning the recent 10 appointments to the post of Extra Assistant Commissioner (EAC) for 'backward' tribes.
Nagaland Chief Secretary Lalthara in a statement last night said that the Government would 'seriously consider' excluding the 'creamy layer' from the reservation and also the automatic conversion of the reserved vacancy into general vacancy if a 'backward' tribe candidate qualifies on merit.
He elaborated at length the reasons and systems, 'background and circumstances' that define the said recruitment.
According to the Government, the circumstances leading to the decision of the State Government to conduct the special recruitment was ''great shortage of Nagaland Civil Service (NCS) officers at the entry level of EAC.'' Another reason, the statement said, is the ''less representation'' of the backward tribes in government service as a whole.
''The Government will seriously consider the issue of excluding the creamy layer from reservation as well as the suggestion for automatic conversion of a reserved vacancy into a general vacancy in the event of a candidate from a backward tribe, for whom specific reservation has been made as per the roster, qualifying on merit in the recruitment,'' the statement said.
The Government also said to have decided to go for the special recruitment along with the normal recruitment process as the absence of administrative officers in many remote outposts continues to challenge effective governance and the public continues to make demands to the Government on this issue.
''In fact, the State Government has earlier been toying with the idea of induction or lateral entry into the NCS at EAC level to tide over this sudden shortage; but due to absence of feeder service to the NSC and also due to lack of any enabling rules and regulations for such induction, the State Government finally opted for this special recruitment to tide over the problem,'' the chief secretary said.