SHILLONG, Oct 5: Over two months after the state government, under duress, appointed a retired judge to head a one-man inquiry commission to probe into the rice scam that was unearthed in Assam in June this year, the inquiry is yet to start.
Reacting to a query on the delay, Social Welfare Minister, Kyrmen Shylla on Tuesday said that the department is finalising the terms and conditions as requested by Justice (retd) Mool Chand Garg of Madhya Pradesh High Court who is heading the independent inquiry.
“We are hopeful that within a few days, the terms and conditions will be finalised by the Chief Minister,” Shylla said.
Asked when the inquiry is expected to begin, Shylla said the department is only waiting for the terms and conditions to be finalised as requested by the retired judge.
He also said that the delay in starting the probe is not from the government’s side since the government has given a free hand to the retired judge to conduct the probe into the matter.
“We cannot force him but we will request him to inquire into the matter at the earliest,” Shylla said.
It is pertinent to note that the state government had issued the notification for the inquiry on July 29.
The terms of reference for the one-man committee is to inquire into the matter of rice allotted to Milkcose (India) Limited for the supplementary nutrition programme (SNP) which was recovered found in a private godown at Boko, Assam and seized by Assam Police.
The Committee will also inquire into the quality of fortified SNP food items being supplied to children, pregnant and lactating women under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme and whether any testing is done and whether it is as per the norms.
The Assam Police, it may be recalled, exposed the scam by seizing several thousand bags of rice from a private godown in Boko of Kamrup district, Assam. Each bag contained 50 kg of rice.
