The Civil Defence & Home Guards department on Thursday said it has not conducted any recruitment except training for Home Guards volunteers.
“Home Guards Volunteers as the term implies are not regular government employee and therefore no recruitment was conducted,” department’s Public Relation Officer (PRO) Paul H Shylla said in a statement.
This came after reports had alleged that recruitment was conducted by the Home Guards office in East Jaintia Hills without advertisement.
The statement issued by the department however said that recruitment to the Civil Defence & Home Guards department is conducted by the Central Recruitment Board of the Department for the entire state of Meghalaya, apart from ministerial staff which are recruited by the District Selection Commission.
It also maintained that a district office is not authorized to conduct any recruitment to any regular post except contractual posts on temporary basis.
The department said, “It appears that both the NGO and the aggrieved local youths may have assumed that a recent training for Home Guards Volunteers conducted by the District Home Guards Training Centre in East Jaintia Hills was a recruitment rally.”
Furthermore, it said that the office of the Deputy Commissioner of East Jaintia Hills was already informed about conduct of the Home Guards volunteer training and the District Home Guards office had received permission for the same.
Meanwhile, the department informed that the district level offices for Civil Defence headed by the
Deputy Controller of Civil Defence and the Home Guards headed by the District Home Guards Commandant/ Officer Commanding conducts training for volunteers throughout the year.
“These are not meant to be confused with recruitment rallies or source for regular employment as the term “Volunteer” implies,” it said.
The department said interested youths, Dorbar Shnongs, Schools, Colleges and Offices are encouraged to visit the District level offices of the Deputy Controller of Civil Defence for Civil Defence Training and the office of the District Home Guards Commandant or Officer Commanding for Home Guards training during office hours if they wish to receive training as volunteers.