Shillong, Aug 13: The cabinet on Thursday approved the introduction of a dedicated paper on the state in the Meghalaya Civil Service competitive examination to ensure officers have a deeper understanding of Meghalaya’s history, culture, governance and economy.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said an expert committee headed by Prof. David Syiemlieh, historian, academician and former civil service administrator, had prepared recommendations on the proposed paper and the cabinet accepted them. This paves the way for Paper VI, which will specifically focus on Meghalaya.
“The objective is that MCS officers must have knowledge of the state, including its history, its culture, its different systems, and different economic aspects,” Sangma said.
The cabinet also approved the Meghalaya Official Languages Bill, 2026 to formally recognise Khasi and Garo as official languages of the state. The bill will be introduced in the upcoming Assembly session following an ordinance promulgated earlier.
In other decisions, the cabinet approved an automatic appeal mechanism under the Meghalaya Right to Public Services Act, 2020. If a service is not delivered within the prescribed time, an appeal will be triggered automatically without the citizen having to file separately. It also granted a one-year extension for registration under the Meghalaya Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2024 to allow more companies to avail incentives. Amendments to the Meghalaya Commerce and Industry Service Amendment Rules, 2026 were cleared to align the upper age limit for ST candidates to 32 years.
The cabinet further approved merging VAT on alcohol with the excise duty regime under the Excise Department to improve monitoring and coordination and to boost excise revenue. It also cleared amendments to align Meghalaya’s GST legislation with recent changes at the national level. The GST amendment bill will be introduced in the autumn Assembly session.
