In March this year, the State Assembly passed the Meghalaya State Investment Promotion and Facilitation Act (MSIPF) 2024 to replace the Single Window Agency (SWA) created earlier to speed up investment procedures. The aim of the MSIPF remains the same as the SWA which is to accelerate the process of granting licenses and permissions from the competent authority/authorities of the State Government for setting up manufacturing and service sector undertakings and promoting economic development in the state. The intention for passing the above Act is to simplify the regulatory framework by reducing procedural requirements and rationalizing documents; to improve ease of doing business, and thereby provide an investor friendly environment in the State.
The Act mandates the setting up of a Nodal Agency called the “Invest Meghalaya Authority” at the State level. This Authority is governed by the Governing Council constituted under Section 8: (2) of the Act. This Authority is headed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – a senior bureaucrat- who is responsible for the day-to day operations and can exercise the powers and perform functions of the Nodal Agency as stated under the Act. Under the Act a High-Powered Committee for Investments comprising the Chief Minister as Chairman, Commerce & Industry Minister, Minister of the concerned department for which investment proposal will be discussed, the Chief Secretary, senior most officer or authorized member representative not below the rank of Secretary of Planning, Member representative not below the rank of Secretary of Commerce & Industry and other senior officers from Finance, and Forests & Environment Department are included. It is evident that the High-Powered Committee for lnvestments is the competent authority at the state level and is also perhaps the final decision maker about which industries to allow in. This Committee moreover is tasked with regularly monitoring, supervising and reviewing the functioning of the State lnvestment Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, the lnvest Meghalaya Authority and also the District Committee for lnvestments.
There has not been any public debate around the setting up of the Invest Meghalaya Authority and how many investors have applied to set up shop in Meghalaya till date and what sort of industries they intend to set up. What is troubling is also the State Cabinet’s recent amendment to the MSIPF which now facilitates the purchase of land by investors in Meghalaya. Land is a scarce commodity and land acquisition has always been the bone of contention in a State where land is ostensibly “community owned” although how much of land is still held by community and not by a tribal elite is not borne out by any data yet. This data is important to corroborate what the VPP and KSU are saying – which is that Raid land (community land) will be gobbled up by prospective investors. Meghalaya suffers from poor data and a lack of transparency in the functioning of the plethora of institutions created by the Government to bypass scrutiny. Public advocates like the KSU and political parties like the VPP should now demand a cadastral survey to establish very firmly as to whether community land still exists or is eroded and converted to private property considering that some ministers are in a land buying spree which includes the Raid land or community owned land.
