Finally the enquiry into various charges pertaining to the MeECL affairs is complete. The Committee has submitted its report to the State Chief Minister. As per the Commission of Enquiry Act 1952, an Enquiry Commission is appointed by the State or Central Government to gather data or facts regarding a specific matter of public importance. In the case of the MeECL the demand for enquiry by the Opposition Congress since 2020 is with regards to the implementation of smart meters which allegedly were of Chinese make and did not meet the specifications as mandated by the Central Electricity Authority, Government of India. The terms of reference of the Enquiry Committee into the MeECL affairs included amongst others (a) to inquire into, record findings and make recommendations concerning procurement; AT&C losses; human resources management aspects of functioning of MeECL and its subsidiary companies viz., Meghalaya Power Generation Corporation Ltd (MePGCL), Meghalaya Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (MePTCL) and Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (MePDCL).
The Committee comprised the former director, Rural Electrification Corporation who is also the Technical Member of the Committee, Retired Justice RN Mishra (Chairman) and Manoj Kumar (IAS retired) who is the Administrative member. The enquiry into the MeECL is termed “independent” but how can any enquiry paid from the public exchequer ever be fair and independent and not in favour of the Government which is a majority shareholder in the Power Corporation? Enquiry Commissions/Committees are by nature problematic. Since the time that Meghalaya came into existence several such Committees were instituted to look into cases of encounter killings such as the one at Nongshiliang which was headed by senior Supreme Court advocate KTS Tulsi and later the cold-blooded killing of Fullmoon Dhar which also was headed by Tulsi. Much money was spent but the Committee failed to indict any police personnel or to term the incidents as fake encounters . In the end it’s a needless waste of public resources.
As per the Commission of Enquiry Act, the findings need not be made public but they can be acquired through the Right to Information (RTI). In the past too a Commission of Enquiry was set up to fix responsibility on the shooting incidents at Tura and Williamnagar in September 2005 where four and five protestors respectively were shot by police while demonstrating on the MBOSE issue. The final enquiry report came in 2007, two years after the incident and no one was indicted. If a report is submitted to the Government and not made public it would be futile to assume that the same Government would indict itself. Enquiry Committees therefore are a wild goose chase meant to cool public tempers, knowing fully well that public memory is short.
