SHILLONG: Former Home Minister RG Lyngdoh has applied for the post of chairman of the Meghalaya Lokayukta.
When contacted, Lyngdoh, who is currently the vice chancellor of MLCU, confirmed that he had applied for the top post of the anti-corruption panel.
Earlier, the former chief secretary of Meghalaya, Ranjan Chatterjee, had also applied for the post.
A chairperson and four members form the Meghalaya Lokayukta.
As per the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, the chairperson of the Lokayukta will be an individual who is or has been a Chief Justice of the High Court or a judge of the High Court or an eminent person who fulfils the eligibility of having an impeccable integrity and knowledge of the anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance, including insurance and banking, law and management for at least 25 years.
While the term of the chairman and four members is five years, they can remain in office till the age of 70 as per the Lokayukta Act. The minimum age of the chairperson and members should be 45 years.
Out of the four members to be appointed, two will be judicial. A person will be eligible to be appointed as a judicial member if he is or has been a judge of the High Court or is eligible to be a judge of the High Court.
For members other than a judicial member, the candidate should be a person of impeccable integrity, outstanding ability having special knowledge and expertise of not less than 25 years in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance, law and management.
The process of inviting names for the Lokayukta started in February this year by the Search Committee and some names were shortlisted in the first phase.
The Search Committee had again called for names before officially constituting the Lokayukta by the Select Committee.
The earlier applicants include Pranoy Kumar Mushahary, retired judge of the Gauhati High Court, B. Dhar, former state commissioner and secretary, Prasanta Kumar Saikia, retired judge of the Gauhati High Court, C.D Kynjing, former state chief information commissioner, and Sreeranjan, additional chief secretary of state for the post of chairperson.
Except Mushahary, all the others had also applied for the post of members.
