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The Gauhati High Court’s Kohima Bench has set aside the recruitment process for 61 positions under Nagaland’s Department of Health & Family Welfare. The court cited irregularities in procedure and stated that the process was conducted on the basis of outdated service rules.

In compliance with the court’s directive, the Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) issued a notification formally cancelling the written examination held on February 24, 2024, and announced that fresh recruitment will be conducted once the Nagaland Nursing Services Rules, 1988 are amended and a new requisition is made by the department, an official release said on Friday.

The Kohima Bench of the GHC quashed the recruitment process for 61 posts of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) and Female Health Worker (FHW) on Wednesday.

The writ petition was filed by 17 petitioners, challenging a corrigendum and a notification issued last year, by which 68 additional candidates were inserted and called for viva-voce.
    
The court observed that although FHW candidates were initially allowed to apply, appear for the written examination, and viva pursuant to the NSSB advertisement dated December 15, 2023, they were abruptly excluded through the corrigendum of May 23, 2024, without valid justification.
    
It further held that the corrigendum and the state’s reliance on a so-called “queue system” in recruitment had no basis in law or under the Nagaland Nursing Services Rules, 1988.
    
Ruling that “the entire recruitment process stands vitiated,” the court set aside both the provisional results of May 22 and the corrigendum issued the next day.

It directed the government to amend the outdated 1988 Rules within 45 days to clearly define eligibility criteria for ANM and FHW.
    
Following this, the Department of Health and Family Welfare must send a fresh requisition to NSSB within 15 days, after which the Board is to issue a new advertisement and complete the recruitment process within six months.
    
The court also ordered that candidates who had appeared in the cancelled examination be allowed to reapply, with age relaxation for the intervening period, and directed that the cancellation be publicly notified through newspapers and the NSSB website.
    
In pursuance of the order, the NSSB has cancelled the entire recruitment process for the 61 posts of ANM/FHW.
    
The Board also clarified that fresh recruitment will only be undertaken after the Department amends the rules and notifies the revised eligibility criteria, and all other directives of the high court are fully complied with.