By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State government has assured the Assembly that it will introduce various amendments through proper discussions in the House to legislate an effective and strong anti-graft law by effecting suitable changes to the Meghalaya Lokayukta Bill, 2012.
“We will not shy away from bringing an effective bill to address the issue of corruption,” Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said on Thursday while replying to a resolution moved by Shillong West legislator Paul Lyngdoh (UDP) for amending the Lokayukta Bill.
The Bill was passed in the previous Assembly without exhaustive deliberations and following protests from different quarters, Governor RS Mooshahary declined to give his assent to the Bill.
The Chief Minister informed that the observations and recommendations of the Governor on the Lokayukta Bill is being examined by the State Government
Dr Sangma, however, defended the decision of the previous Assembly to pass the Bill without deliberation.
“People were getting impatient and were hoping for a new Bill and through this Bill we wanted to send a message to the people that the Government wants to bring out the Bill for tackling corruption,” he said.
According to Dr Sangma, the Government will take necessary steps to address the issue of corruption and it will also come out with other mechanisms to supplement the Bill.
Earlier, while moving the resolution, the UDP legislator pointed out different loopholes in the Bill which was approved last year.
“This Bill suffers from deformities and flaws,” he said, while questioning the definition of the Bill as it excludes traditional institutions from the purview of the Lokayukta.
Lyngdoh was also not happy with the fact that a judge of the high session court or high court should be a member of the Lokayukta, and he suggested that even MLAs and prominent names from the civil societies can be considered from the post.
The MLA also proposed that the tenure of Lokayukta should be raised from three years to five years.
The Chief Minister also asserted that the right approach for the Government with regards to the Bill would be to re-draft it to remove any flaws. The resolution was supported by HSPDP legislator Ardent Basaiawmoit, who pointed out that the Bill attempts to discourage people from filing complaints as it talks of action in the event of any complaint being found to be false.
UDP legislator Jemino Mawthoh, while presenting his views on the Bill, said that he needed more time to go into the details of the bill.
Senior NPP MLA James Sangma was of the opinion that the Government should have resorted to the Lokpal Bill while drafting the Lokayukta Bill.
Sangma also pointed out that the Bill does not provide protection to whistle blowers.
Later, Lyngdoh withdrew the resolution after the Chief Minister gave a specific assurance that enough time would be given to the MLAs to bring in amendments to the Bill when it is brought to the Assembly again.
