Shillong, Nov 14: The state cabinet today approved an amendment to legislation that would allow Meghalaya to increase its fiscal debt limit to 3.5 per cent of GSDP.
The Meghalaya Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2006 prescribes a limit of 3 per cent of GSDP and this will now increase by 0.5 per cent.
The state government claimed that this is in line with central government guidelines. However, with the opposition highly critical of the amount of debt being incurred to enable the Meghalaya government to spend on big projects, the increase in the debt ceiling may raise further concerns.
The second agenda passed in the cabinet was the acquisition of additional land at Tynring for the New Shillong Township to serve as a corridor between the administrative city and ‘Knowledge City’. The government has acquired additional 35 acres of land to shift the central jail from Jail Road to New Shillong.
An amendment to Rule 6D of the Meghalaya Ministerial District Establishment Service Rules 2017 was also approved to provide for filling up of 50 percent of Group D posts from amongst regular casual workers (RCWs).
The decision was taken to resolve contradictory office memorandums – while one mandated that half of Group D posts be filled up from among RCWs, another one in 2017 mandated that these posts be filled by direct recruitment. The cabinet today gave its preference for the original 1996 memorandum.
The service rules for the Meghalaya State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission were also approved by the cabinet. The commission will have its own recruitment board and to be able to recruit its own staff.
The cabinet also passed the proposal for reappointment of the president of the state commission and member to the Meghalaya State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. The term of Justice Shivaji Pandey as commission president will come to an end on December 6 and the rules allow for reappointment for another four-year term up to an age limit of 67.
