SHILLONG, April 5: The Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment (ACWE) has questioned the delay in the appointment of the new body of Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW), including its chairperson.
“We have written to the office of MSCW to know the status of the constitution of the new body. We have summoned the Principal Secretary of Social Welfare Department on April 7 to seek a clarification on the delay to appoint the MSCW chairperson,” ACWE chairperson, Ampareen Lyngdoh said on Monday.
She said there is no justification for the delay since there are many women who have excelled in the cause for the protection of women in cases of settlement of divorce and fighting for their maintenance.
Lyngdoh said the Opposition had scheduled a question on the issue during the recent Assembly session. “But this could not be disposed of. It is really unfortunate that we don’t even have the MSCW chairperson,” she said.
She recalled that several civil society groups had written to Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma to speed up the process of appointment of the new MSCW body and its chairperson. The tenure of the previous chairperson, Theilin Phanbuh had ended in October last year.
The Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) had recently urged the CM to prioritise the establishment of a search and selection committee to facilitate the formation of the new Commission.
The TUR pointed out that the delay had greatly affected women seeking redressal on issues of violence, abandonment, maintenance, etc and denial of constitutional rights, for whom the Commission should have been readily accessible.
Earlier, Social Welfare Minister, Kyrmen Shylla had stated that the CM would convene a meeting this month to finalise the new MSCW team. He said he had forwarded a file to the CM containing the names recommended from all districts.
“After the meeting, the list of names will be placed before the Cabinet for approval,” he had stated.
He had also said that some districts did not forward the names on time and this caused the delay.