SHILLONG, Oct 29: Power Minister, Prestone Tynsong on Friday said the government is open to extending the timeframe to the independent committee probing the alleged corruption and illegalities in the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL).
The committee has missed the three-month deadline of submitting its report to the government.
“We are open to the extension of the period of probe if a proposal comes from them,” Tynsong said.
According to him, the government is bound to extend the period if it receives the proposal. This cannot be seen as a delaying tactic by the government, he said.
“The question of delaying tactic does not arise as this is an independent inquiry, headed by a retired judge. People must not have any doubt on the inquiry commission,” Tynsong said.
The state government had on July 29 notified the constitution of the committee and gave it three months’ time to submit the report. It was said to be from submitting the report.
Earlier, it had issued a public notice asking people to come up with evidence and documents substantiating the allegations. Subsequently, it received an affidavit from a local resident, it was learnt.
There were several reasons behind the delay in the formation of the committee. First, the government took more than a month to name Justice Ifaqat Ali Khan, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, as the panel’s head. Then, the government had to reconstitute it as he opted out after meeting with an accident.
Later, the government appointed retired Justice RN Mishra of the same court to head the probe. The other members are retired IAS officer Manoj Kumar (administrative member) and retired Executive Director of REC Ltd Sunil Kumar (technical member).
The committee has been tasked to probe records and make recommendations on the functioning of MeECL and its three subsidiary companies – Meghalaya Power Generation Corporation Ltd, Meghalaya Power Transmission Corporation Ltd and Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Ltd.
The probe covers the period from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2021.