By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In a bizarre statement made to news persons on Friday, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma gave a flippant answer to the question of appointment of a new Chairperson to the State Women’s Commission (SWC) and reconstituting the body.
The Chief Minister attributed the delay to the fact that there are too many competent women in the fray.
“We are taking extra time in constituting the new SWC since there are so many competent women who are eligible to be members of the Commission,” Dr Sangma explained to reporters on Friday, adding that if there had been less competent women, then the Government would not have taken so much time in constituting the new body.
It may be recalled that the previous MPA Government had not taken much time in appointing the new body since it had assigned the task of selecting the Chairperson to a Select Committee, as demanded by women’s organisations at the time.
This time around there is no such demand because most of the women’s organisations involved in the selection procedure at the time believed that the process was institutionalised and would be followed by subsequent governments.
Evidently, this Government does not believe in such a democratic process.
Sources in the know believe that if the present Government had followed due procedure and appointed a selection committee then the delay could have been avoided.
The three-year term of the previous Commission, constituted in July 2008 and headed by Susanna K Marak as Chairperson, ended in July this year.
