Kohima, August 23, 2025 — The Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) has officially cancelled the recruitment process for 61 posts of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) and Female Health Worker (FHW) in the state’s Department of Health and Family Welfare, in compliance with a directive issued by the Gauhati High Court’s Kohima Bench.
The decision follows a legal challenge filed by 17 petitioners who contested procedural irregularities in the recruitment process. The court found that the NSSB had issued two contradictory lists of shortlisted candidates for viva-voce within 24 hours in May 2024—one on May 22 and a corrigendum on May 23—which dropped the petitioners’ names and added 68 new candidates without explanation.
Justice Mridul Kumar Kalita, presiding over the case, ruled that the corrigendum lacked legal justification and violated Article 16(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees equal opportunity in public employment. The court also criticized the state’s reliance on a “queue system” and flagged inconsistencies between the eligibility criteria stated in the Nagaland Nursing Services Rules, 1988, and those mentioned in the government’s requisition and NSSB advertisement.
In its judgment, the court declared the entire recruitment process “vitiated” and ordered the following:
- The cancellation of the written examination held on February 24, 2024.
- Amendment of the Nagaland Nursing Services Rules, 1988, within 45 days to clearly define eligibility criteria for ANM and FHW posts.
- Submission of a fresh requisition by the Health Department to NSSB within 15 days of the rule amendment.
- Issuance of a new recruitment advertisement and completion of the process within six months.
- Age relaxation for candidates who appeared in the cancelled examination.
- Public notification of the cancellation through newspapers and the NSSB website.
The NSSB confirmed that fresh recruitment will only proceed once all directives of the High Court are fully implemented. The move is expected to restore transparency and legal compliance in public sector hiring within Nagaland’s healthcare system.
