Technology will play an important role in ensuring that deserving candidates are inducted into the police force under the new recruitment process.
The state government had recently given its approval to the transparent recruitment policy for the purpose of drafting unarmed and armed branch constables and allied posts in the department.
“All recruitments will be done through the transparent recruitment process which will involve the use of technological innovations to ensure objectivity and accuracy and eliminate discretionary powers on the part of the recruiting officers as far as possible,” Meghalaya director-general of police N. Ramachandran told reporters this evening.
He said the purpose of introducing the process was to eliminate any suspicion of corruption or nepotism in the recruitment process and to ensure that the police department gets the best candidate suitable for the post.
The department will float advertisements to invite eligible candidates to fill up vacancies in both unarmed branch (UB) and armed branch (AB) posts.
There are 739 vacancies for constables in the UB section and 503 vacancies in the AB section. Another 56 persons will be recruited as followers or orderlies. However, these numbers are subject to revision.
Ramachandran said the department has done away with some components like high jump and long jump under the physical efficiency test (PET) wherein candidates will be required to take part only in a race.
For men, it will be a 10km race which has to be completed within a minimum of 60 minutes. Women candidates will be required to complete 5.5km race in less than 40 minutes.
The accurate timings and scores achieved by each candidate will be recorded based on radio frequency ID (RFID) tags tied to the legs of the candidates, which will directly convey the scores to the computer. The exact scores will be communicated to each candidate on the spot, Ramachandran said.
Written examinations will be based on multiple-choice questions and answers will be marked on optical mark recognition pattern. The evaluation will be done by computerised scanners. The results of written examinations will be published on the police website the same day.
“The interviews will be done in such a manner that the five members of the interview board will separately assign marks based on objective considerations and the final score will be conveyed to the candidates the same day,” the DGP said.
The final merit list will be prepared based on the total score of the candidate on PET, written examinations, interview and bonus marks, if any, and based on the reservation policy of the state government.
The DGP said there will be a strong and effective grievance redressal mechanism and candidates will be allowed to approach the senior-most officer at the venue of recruitment in case they have any complaints.
“They can also address their grievances to the chairman of the central recruitment board and also send their grievances directly to the DGP,” he added.
The department will also depute special teams to the interior areas to provide assistance to aspiring candidates from the rural areas in filling up the forms and also to give guidance regarding the recruitment process.
Ramachandran said the department has engaged a service provider for the purpose of carrying out the recruitment process, which will be under the strict supervision of the department.
Additional DGP B.L. Buam said each RFID costs around Rs 3,000, which will be used in the recruitment process with the help of a service provider. “If RFID is damaged or lost by the candidates during the recruitment process, they have to pay for it,” he added.