A new company has been floated by the State government company named ‘Meghalaya Energy Efficiency Limited (MeEEL)” also has the name of James Kongkal Sangma listed as one of the directors.
The new company which was incorporated on March 25 this year is listed in the website of the Registrar of Companies.
But it is unclear if the company’s director James Kongkal Sangma is the current power minister of the State under the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government or another person with a similar name.
The name of the new company immediately arouses misgivings as its abbreviation looks and sounds oddly similar to the state power company, the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL), which is in the eye of a storm as its management is riddled with allegations of corruption and scams.
The acronym of MeECL and the new company MeEEL sound and look disturbingly similar.
If the State power minister is indeed the one named as one of the directors of this new company, then it is a clear case of conflict of interest since a member of the cabinet cannot hold any post other than that of his ministerial portfolio.
The Registrar of Companies website carries the information that MEEL “is classified as a State Government Company and is registered at the Registrar of Companies, Shillong. Its authorised share capital is Rs. 1,000,000 and its paid up capital is Rs. 1,000,000. It is involved in other service activities.”
The registered address of MeEEL is No. IV/A,B, Umiam Colony, Dyke Site (Block-IV), Umiam, Ri-Bhoi district. No general meeting was held and there is no balance sheet for viewing.
The other directors of the company are Robert Lyngdoh, Pravin Bakshi, Arunkumar Kembhavi (all bureaucrats) and two others named Uttam Rai and Lon Leniency Shangpliang.
The involvement of the three bureaucrats in the newly floated company has raised eyebrows.
Bakshi who is the managing director of MeEEL is also the Secretary, Power Department. So does this mean that the power minister will also work under the supervision of the managing director of the new company?
Besides being appointed as director in the new MeEEL, Arunkumar Kembhavi is presently the Chairman and Managing Director of MeECL and its three subsidiaries – Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited, Meghalaya Power Generation Corporation Limited, and Meghalaya Power Transmission
