By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 22: VPP MLA from North Shillong, Adelbert Nongrum suffered another setback on Thursday when the House resoundingly rejected a resolution he had moved seeking amendment of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act in order to strengthen the institution to make it more effective in dealing with cases of corruption by public functionaries.
Surprisingly, none of his colleagues from the Voice of the People Party supported the resolution.
Moving the resolution, he said, “Just two days ago in this very House, I made my voice heard that the biggest threat to governance and to democracy is corruption. In Meghalaya, the battle against corruption has made people look to the only institution that has given us a ray of hope, and that institution is the Meghalaya Lokayukta.”
He argued that when he had moved a motion seeking amendment of the Lokayukta Act, several members of the House had extended their support.
The Speaker asked Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma to reply but even after the reply, Nongrum refused to withdraw the resolution after which it was put to vote but no one stood up in support and it was rejected.
Lokayukta functioning as per mandate of Act: CM
During his reply, the chief minister said the Lokayukta is functioning as per the mandate of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act and the amendments made in 2021 were to strengthen the very functioning of the Lokayukta.
Stating that the amendment to the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act in 2021 was carried out by the government to make the Lokayukta functional in the state, Sangma said, “The Lokayukta under the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014 in absence of amendment carried out in 2021 was not even functional as the non-amended Meghalaya Lokayukta Act required a minimum of Chairperson and four Members, out of which 50 per cent shall be judicial. Even single vacancy either to the post of Chairperson or Members would have made the Lokayukta dysfunctional.”
“The amendment to the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014 that was passed by this August House in 2021 amended Section 3 by replacing the word ‘and’ with ‘or’ in clause (a) of sub-section 2. This amendment achieved the statutory purpose of making the Lokayukta functional,” he added.
Sangma said the amendment in 2021 was carried out to fill the lacuna in the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act as the definition of Lokayukta as provided in section 3 (2) contemplated that the Lokayukta can function and discharge the duties only when it consists of Chairperson and four Members.
Stating that during the examination of the Lokayukta Act of other states, the state government found that in Sikkim, Haryana, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura etc where the Lokayukta is a single-member body, he said the amendment was carried out in 2021 to make the Lokayukta functional and give it flexibility.
He said the amended provision was placed before a division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya that was hearing the case and the court held that the Meghalaya Lokayukta became functional.
The CM said the Meghalaya Lokayukta is fully functional with the current Chairperson assuming charge on February 1, 2022. Further, the Secretary to the Lokayukta, who is in the rank of Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, has been appointed by the Chairperson on the recommendation of the state government as per Section 10(2) of the Act.
“Further, the Inquiry Wing of the Meghalaya Lokayukta has also been constituted under section 11 of the Act. It is headed by a Director of Inquiry who is not below the rank of Additional Secretary to the state government. The Director of Prosecution has also been appointed,” he said.
Stating that the officers of the Inquiry Wing have also been constituted, Sangma said under the Act, all these appointments are made by the Lokayukta Chairperson from a panel of names sent by the state government.
He said the total number of complaints registered with the Lokayukta till date is 38, of which 27 have been closed. Eleven cases are pending investigation. This shows that the Lokayukta is functioning as per the mandate of the Act, he said.
“It may be mentioned that all the institutions/wings created under the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014, as amended from time to time, are in place and adequately staffed to handle all complaints,” Sangma said.
“In the event of increase in the number of cases, suitable provisions are already available in the Act for strengthening the Lokayukta to deal with such emerging situation. Further, the Chairperson under Section 28 (1) of the Act has the power to utilise the services of any officer of organisation or investigation agency of the state government,” he added.