An ongoing tussle between the Mizoram Public Service Commission’s chairman and one of the state’s most powerful student's bodies is likely to intensify into street protests as the former refuses to step down amid a controversy about his age. The Mizo Students’ Union had demanded MPSC chairman Andrew Lalherliana to step down from the constitutional post by April 1 after discovering he used two dates of birth in separate official dealings. MPSC members including the chairman are allowed to serve in the commission only till they are 62 years old or younger, but some documents used for official purposes show Andrew Lalherliana was born in 1951, indicating he is already 64 years old. [related-post] These documents include the MPSC chairman’s nomination papers for the state assembly elections of 2003 and 2008. A state government publication about Mizoram state’s first legislators also show he was born in 1951 at the Aizawl Civil Hospital. MSU leaders visited the MPSC office in Aizawl’s New Capital Complex area on Wednesday to remind Andrew Lalherliana of the deadline they had set for his resignation, but the latter told them he had no intention of stepping down. The MPSC chairman, son of former Indian Ambassador K C Lalvunga, has countered that his “official age” is determined by his official year of birth, which is 1953, and that this year is what he has used in all documents through high school, college, university and even his passport. At a press conference he called on Monday, however, he refused to pointedly answer when journalists asked him how old he really is, saying instead his service-record should be based on whether or not he is fit to hold his current post. Andrew is a career politician and three-time MLA who has contested six state assembly elections for six different parties, the latest for the ruling Congress. MSU leaders have meanwhile indicated they will likely protest outside the MPSC offices and prevent him from entering the building if he continues to refuse to step down as they demand.
