SHILLONG, Nov 21: The state government will shortly announce the new body of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW) besides the name of the new State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC), said Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Sunday.
“We have already taken a call on the SCIC. I am sure in the next few days we should be able to appoint the new SCIC who will lead the Meghalaya State Information Commission (MSIC),” the chief minister told reporters.
On the announcement of the new body of the MSCW including its chairperson, Conrad said that the file of the MSCW is at his office and he will also look into that matter.
“Within very few days, the state government will fill up the vacant posts in both the commissions,” he said.
Earlier, most parties in the state’s coalition government underscored the need to fill up the important posts in the two commissions.
The National People’s Party-led government has already come under fire from the Opposition as well as other stakeholders over the delay in filling up the posts, especially in the MSCW, which has been functioning without its chairperson and members since October last year.
Similarly, the post of the SCIC has been lying vacant since the tenure of the former Chief Secretary, PBO Warjri, ended in March this year.
United Democratic Party working president, Paul Lyngdoh, had also insisted that the government should expedite the process of appointment in the two bodies. “Cases for adjudication and disposal by both bodies are piling up. Further delay in getting the vacancies filled up will weaken the roots and reach of democracy in the state,” Lyngdoh said.
Echoing similar views, People’s Democratic Front president, Banteidor Lyngdoh, had earlier expressed his intention to meet the chief minister on the need to fill up the posts at the earliest.
On the other hand, Hill State People’s Democratic Party chief, KP Pangniang, had said he will ask the minister representing the party in the Cabinet to raise the matter with the chief minister.
