[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 12 Dec: The new team of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) will be sworn in by the governor on Wednesday at the Raj Bhavan here.
Prof Pradip Lingfa will take oath as the new chairman, while Rosy Taba, retired colonel Koj Tari and Prof Ashan Riddi will be sworn in as members. The new team will take over the reins at a time when the APPSC is going through its worst phase.
The paper leak scandal, followed by the mysterious death of former assistant controller of examination Tumi Gangkak, has deeply hurt the image of the commission. The people’s trust in the commission is at an all-time low. This is the second instance in the span of one year that the APPSC is being constituted.
After the paper leak scam rocked the state, the previous APPSC chairman, Nippo Nabam, along with members retired major general Ganesh Singh Bisht and retired major general Jarken Gamlin, resigned.
The members resigned after the cabinet recommended to the governor to invoke provisions of Article 317, in order to remove them. Several organisations, including the Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum, the AAPSU and the ANSU, had sought their removal.
In February this year, when the new team was about to be sworn in, the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee protested strongly. Not only was the swearing-in cancelled, the state cabinet later also gave the nod to recall the order of the appointment of the new chairman and members of the APPSC, and recommended to the governor to recall the appointment orders issued on 7 February.
The then governor, BD Mishra, had appointed Shantanu Dayal as the chairman of the APPSC, and Koj Tari, Prof Pradip Lingfa and Rosy Taba as its members on 7 February. The Gauhati High Court’s Itanagar bench on Friday set aside the cabinet decision to recall the selection of members Rosy Taba and Koj Tari, paving the way for them to be sworn in as new members.
Tari is a retired colonel, while Prof Lingfa is from the NERIST. Taba is a former member of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women, and Ashan Riddi is a professor who teaches at Rajiv Gandhi University.
