Local organizations express anger over Gauhati High Court directive on NRL recruitment

A CORRESPONDENT

BOKAKHAT: The Gauhati High Court recently directed Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) to make its job recruitment process open to all eligible candidates across Assam, instead of restricting it only to candidates forwarded by the Golaghat Employment Exchange. This directive was issued in response to a writ petition filed by 15 individuals who challenged NRL’s recruitment policy, arguing that it was unconstitutional and violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantee equality and equal opportunity in public employment. Local organizations expressed deep resentment over this directive.

Since 2004, advertisements for NRL’s Grade-IV and Grade-V jobs were restricted only to candidates registered with the Golaghat Employment Exchange. NRL had justified this policy as being in line with the objectives of the Assam Accord’s local development goals, as Golaghat district had been identified as an ‘underdeveloped area’ and 30% reservation (later amended) was provided to encourage local employment.

However, the High Court observed that there was no legal or valid basis for such recruitment restrictions. It stated that opening the recruitment process to all eligible candidates would serve the greater public interest, and that the existing policy was neither fair nor consistent with constitutional rights.

Local organizations said that since the Numaligarh area had been declared an NDJ (No Development Zone) due to the presence of the refinery, local youths had refrained from demanding the setting up of other industries. Therefore, they expressed strong anger over the High Court’s directive and indicated that they would approach the High Court again to challenge it.

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