SHILLONG: The State Government has sent back the second probe report on the alleged harassment of the orderly lady peon by the Director of Soil and Water Conservation, D. Langstieh, for specific recommendations from the inquiry panel.
An official source said on Sunday that after the government on February 3 appointed the internal three-member committee comprising all women officers to probe the matter, a report was submitted to the government which, however, was not satisfactory.
Another drawback was an independent member from any NGO was not included in the probe panel, which was mandatory as per the guidelines.
Subsequently, the government included Sr Judith Shadap as the independent member.
However, even after the inclusion of the independent member, the inquiry report submitted by the committee remained incomplete as the panel did not suggest any recommendations for the government to take action. The committee was headed by A.D Blah from the Water Resources Department as chairperson and V. Papang from the Soil and Water Conservation Department and S. Kharphuli as members.
“There should be specific recommendations by the inquiry committee and it can be for or against the accused or the victim and hence we returned the report to the committee,” an official dealing with the matter said.
The peon had alleged that Langstieh had tasked her with non-official work and insisted that she stayed at his residence at night. When she refused, he withheld her salary and later transferred her to Byrnihat.
However, the peon had filed a case in the High Court of Meghalaya in March seeking transfer.
Following this, the court disposed of the matter giving relief to the victim as she was transferred back to Shillong. Earlier, denying allegations of harassment, Langstieh had claimed that during the job interview, all candidates were informed about the nature of duty of an orderly peon and that the complainant had also readily agreed.