New twist to Mukul’s ST status issue
SHILLONG: In an irony of sorts, petitioners who had questioned the scheduled tribe status of Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma have themselves been issued with show cause notices by the State Level Scrutiny Committee (SLSC) formed by the Meghalaya Government to probe into the allegation, instead of the committee issuing summons to the Chief Minister.
According to the petitioners, the merit of the case is that the Chief Minister does not belong to ST by birth. The Supreme Court on January 20 gave eight weeks to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribe to make clear the ST status of Chief Minister and the deadline in this regard expired recently. But, the SLSC had been formed by the social welfare department on its own initiative.
In the case of the education scam, the State Government had it probed by a High Level Scrutiny Committee. There was, however, a High Court directive.
In a letter addressed to the members of All North East Indigenous Garo Law Promoters Association which filed the case on the ST status of the Chief Minister, the SLSC has said that due to the urgency of the matter, a hearing on the show cause notice would be held on March 31 in Shillong.
The Government also issued summon to Tennydard M Marak, a vocal member, who raised the issue in various forums.
Questions are being raised on whether the SLSC is an independent committee. There are also allegations that the members are political appointees, close to the party in power. Chaired by T Dkhar, other members of SLSC include MPSC chairperson LM Sangma, social welfare and DIPR department official HM Shangpliang and Dr R Khongsdier.
Under secretary to social welfare department M. Chyne said that the matter will be expedited by SLSC on a regular basis without adjournment so that the report could be sent to National Commission for Scheduled Tribe to be submitted before the Supreme Court.
But observers said when an inquiry was in progress on the ST status, the Chief Minister should have stepped down to have a fair probe.