MDA government spokesperson and cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Monday said the government does not interfere with the functioning of the Lokayukta.
“This misconception needs immediate correction,” Lyngdoh told reporters in response to the allegations made by the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) regarding the removal of the Director of Inquiry and Inquiry officers of the Meghalaya Lokayukta.
She said as per the Lokayukta Act, 2014, the government of Meghalaya had recognized certain anomalies that seem to have surfaced in the selection of certain members, who were appointed to the Lokayukta both in the Director of Inquiry as well as Director prosecution posts.
“Having seen this anomaly, the government has thought it fit that necessary corrections were to be made and as per mandate of the Act, the government has recommended to the Lokayukta, who is the authorized individual to appoint its own members. A panel of names were sent to the Meghalaya Lokayukta and accordingly corrections were made and officers were selected,” she said.
“It is the wish of this government to reassure its citizens that we shall not interfere into constitutional bodies and their functionings and we give a commitment to the people of the state of Meghalaya that any perceived misconception should be corrected and we as a government has proceeded forward only as per law and as per recommendations of tenets of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act 2014,” she added.
NPP spokesperson and former Mawsynram legislator Himalaya Shangpliang also clarified that the process of appointment of these officers has been as per the Lokayukta Act, 2014 under Section 10 (2) which says “there shall be a Director of Inquiry and Director of Prosecution not below the rank of the Additional Secretary to the State Government or equivalent, who shall be appointed by the Chairperson from a panel of names send by the State government”.
He said, “Accordingly in Section 11 of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014 it also says, “(1)Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the Lokayukta shall constitute an Inquiry Wing headed by the Director of Inquiry for the purpose of conducting preliminary inquiry into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Provided that till such time the Inquiry Wing is constituted by the Lokayukta, the State Government shall make available such a number of officers and other staff from such of its Departments, as may be required by the Lokayukta, for conducting preliminary inquiry under this Act.
(2) For the purposes of assisting the Lokayukta in conducting a preliminary inquiry under this Act, the officers of the Inquiry Wing not below the rank of Under Secretary to that Government, shall have the same powers as are conferred upon the Lokayukta under section 88”.
Shangpliang said that the officers that have been removed from the office of the Lokayukta were retired personnel which have been drawn from the home police department.
“It was an interim measure on the part of the government so as to enable the Lokayukta to run the office and the appointment was issued for the Director of Inquiry in October 2022 and for the inquiry officers was issued in March 2023. The government felt it necessary that the Lokayukta office should be equipped with officers as per the Act and therefore, as per Section 10 and 11 of the Act, a panel of names were sent to the Lokayukta and accordingly the Lokayukta had made a selection and issued appointment letters accordingly,” he said.
On December 19, 2023, the office of the Meghalaya Lokayukta has selected IAS officer IW Ingty as Director of Inquiry and three MPS officers as members – Challang G Momin, John Clitzer A Sangma and Baniateilang Diengngan.
“This means that the office of the Lokayukta is fully functional with regular officials drawn from the services of the government,” Shangpliang said.
Meanwhile, Shangpliang said that “there has never been any occasion or anytime where the chief minister or the government has ever interfered in the appointment or the selection of officers to be sent to the Lokayukta nor has the chief minister and his office has ever interfered in any such cases related where the Lokayukta is handling.”
On the VPP threatening to launch a movement against the corrupt practices of the MDA government, Lyngdoh said she does not understand the interpretation of the word ‘movement’.
“The political party has the freedom and will to do so as they wish. The government is not privy to their matters and has no incite into their understanding of matters but government is clear on one thing as political parties, you have your own understanding of things but as a government, we have clarified and this is a democracy matters can be debated, discussed without creating unnecessary tensions, disrupting the peace of the state, disrupting the everyday working of this government,” she said.
“I do not understand the interpretation of the word movement. We are now also in election year, very likely all political parties will be preparing their own agendas for the upcoming MP elections and I hope as a government we too have our space, everybody has a space we hope that everything that is discussed is discussed within context and within relevance of facts not aberration of a fact,” the spokesperson of the MDA government added.
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