Shillong: The High Court of Meghalaya stopped personal interviews for the lower division assistant-cum-typist post under the District Selection Committee in West Jaintia Hills. This order casts a shadow over the Grade IV exam set for August 29. Pressure is mounting. An influential group claims the rot from previous hiring cycles threatens the upcoming tests.
Critics fear officials will use the new process to favor tainted candidates. Allegations date back to recruitment exams held in September and October 2025 for roles including Gram Sevak, Gram Sevika, copyist, and male supervisor. Insiders claim a network of officials coached chosen candidates to leave OMR sheets blank. The plan was to fill them later.
Witnesses noted blank sheets during the LDA-cum-typist exam. OMR sheets with roll numbers 8513, 3974, and 1691 reportedly helped candidates pass despite empty submissions. One video shared by the Voice of the People Party shows a blank sheet for roll number 8513, serial number 34134, from the Kiang Nangbah Government College center in Jowai. Suspects allegedly moved answer sheets from the DSC office to an unknown site in Shillong overnight before official evaluation.
Justice Hamarsan Singh Thangkhiew issued the stay on June 30 after four excluded candidates sued. The state claimed 68 candidates were shortlisted for 34 vacancies based on merit. The court disagreed. Justice Thangkhiew noted, "The state had not satisfactorily explained how the DSC assessed candidates in the typing and language tests or how merit was determined for the final shortlist." The court now demands all recruitment records and a formal affidavit.
The VPP continues to push for a CBI investigation into the scandal. Party spokesperson Londoner Sohtun previously claimed three candidates made the Grade IV shortlist despite scoring just three or four marks out of 50.
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