Incensed over the appointment of former Goa Assembly secretary R Kothandraman as Meghalaya Assembly Principal Secretary, the Khasi Students Union (KSU) will be launching an agitation demanding his removal.

KSU president Samuel Jyrwa said: “We will hold a meeting with the Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) on Monday to decide on our programme to oppose the appointment of Kothandraman as Assembly Principal Secretary.”

Before Kothandraman’s appointment, the Meghalaya Assembly had only the post of secretary. However, after Charles Pyngrope took over as Speaker, he created the post of principal secretary and accommodated Kothandraman.This immediately courted controversy as it gave an impression that the post was specially created to accommodate him.

Pyngrope, however, said that other state assemblies had the post of principal secretary and Meghalaya Assembly too can have such a post. “The idea of having Kothandraman as principal secretary is to raise the standard of the Assembly by getting his advice on different aspects ,” he said.

The appointment has been described as “wasteful expenditure” by many as Kothandraman has been hired on a two years’ contract with a salary of Rs 75, 000 per month.