SHILLONG: A strong anti-corruption body is yet to become a reality in the State as the Chairperson and members of the Meghalaya Lokayukta are yet to be appointed by the State Government.
The search committee has not finalized any name, a state government official said on Monday adding that the Government is committed to come up with a strong Lokayukta at the earliest.
He said that the committee’s job was to find the best persons to constitute the Lokayukta.
Meghalaya Lokayukta consists of a Chairperson and four members.
There were a series of amendments to the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act and finally the Meghalaya Lokayukta Bill, 2014 was passed in the March session of the Assembly this year.
However, there is no headway in the appointment of the Chairperson and members of the Lokayukta even after several months.
There were a series of agitation in the past expressing concern over the delay in the formation of an effective Lokayukta for Meghalaya.
Pending a full- fledged Lokayukta, the corruption cases involving officials are currently being handled by the State Vigilance Commission headed by the Chief Secretary and this has almost become ‘defunct and toothless.’
According to a gazette notification issued recently, a selection committee will constitute the search committee consisting of five persons. The search committee will prepare a panel of names to be forwarded to the selection committee for appointment of chairperson and members.
The search committee will circulate vacancies to the Registrar General of High Court of Meghalaya, and secretaries to various departments of Meghalaya Government calling for nomination of eligible candidates for Lokayukta and will also advertise the vacancies directly inviting applications from the eligible candidates.
While selecting the panel of names to be recommended, the Search Committee will give due importance to the representation of the persons belonging to SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women, the gazette notification said.
