Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today said that his government decided to appoint serving officials as enquiry officers in the State Lokayukta in order to avoid extra expenditure.
Speaking to media persons today, Sangma said that the State government has repeatedly clarified its stand on the issue and that the earlier appointment of retired officials in the Lokayukta was a temporary measure.
“The provisions under which the persons earlier were appointed as Director of Enquiry, the rules were not followed in the sense that it was a temporary arrangement because we needed to immediately start the work. We had the shortage of officials working because one has to be an officer of the Secretary level and above and hence we decided at that point of time that as a temporary arrangement to go for a retired officer which is as per the rules. Hence to rectify that and to regularise that we have followed the rule which said that one has to be an officer of the rank of the Secretary,” Sangma said.
“Another point is that when we appoint a person who is retired then the government has to take additional expenditure. For a serving officer there is no additional expenditure as he gets his salary. Hence in the interest of the rules to be followed and in the interest of the expenditure for the State we decided to follow the rules,” he added.
When asked if his government would invite the Voice of the People Party (VPP) for talks on the issue, Sangma said, “We are very open. If anybody wants to meet us they are welcome.”
It may be mentioned that Law Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh yesterday said that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will decide on a meeting with the VPP to discuss the Lokayukta issue.
While describing her meeting with the VPP delegation as “fruitful”, Lyngdoh said that there was need for another meeting with the chief minister to discuss the issues raised by the party.
Following the meeting, the VPP decided to suspend its sit-in-protest against the removal of three retired officials from the Lokayukta’s office.
“We have agreed to the Law Minister’s request that the chief minister wants to meet us on this matter,” Basaiawmoit said, adding that the VPP has made it clear that the agitation will resume if the government does not provide a satisfactory explanation.
The VPP is demanding for reinstatement of the three Lokayukta officials who were sacked by the State government unceremoniously by WhatsApp. The three were the Lokayukta’s Director of Inquiry and Prosecution Jainal Rymmai and two enquiry officers – Anil K Sangma and Rymphang Pde.
It was this trio who had unearthed an alleged scam worth crores of rupees that purportedly involved NPP MLA, Sanjay Sangma, who is also the brother-in-law of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma.
The State government justified the trio’s removal by stating that they were retired government officials and the Lokayukta rules require serving officials to hold the posts.
