Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today informed that the names of members of the independent inquiry committee set up by the state government to probe alleged corruption charges and other irregularities in the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd (MeECL) will be out by Tuesday.
Sangma said that the government has taken utmost care to ensure that those involved in the inquiry committee are independent.
The Chief Minister said, “Our basis of selection is to ensure that it is completely independent. We have avoided people who had any link with the state government or of the North East in terms of the Power Department or any other departments and we have avoided people who could have links to MeECL or with the Power Department so that we could have a completely independent opinion.”
He said that this yardstick was followed because the government felt that if one tried to bring in people who had worked in MeECL in the past or who had worked in other departments there could be some questioning whether the committee is truly independent or not.
The inquiry will be headed by a retired judge and two members from the administration, a retired officer, and a technical person.
The terms of reference for the inquiry will include different types of tenders from MeECL for central and state schemes. It will also look into different types of manpower issues like the appointment and other irregularities in the human resources division.
It will also look into allegations of power theft as well as the overall AT&C losses. The inquiry will look into work done in the last 10 years since the inception of the MeECL.
Meanwhile, the CM informed that his government will also constitute another independent inquiry committee to probe into the seizure of rice, ostensibly meant for social schemes in Meghalaya, which was lying in a warehouse in Assam.
According to Sangma the inquiry will be headed by a retired judge. Although the government has repeatedly said that there is nothing untoward in the seizure by Assam police, it has decided to constitute an inquiry to assure the public that no such scam or misappropriation is taking place.
Sangma also informed that, like the inquiry into the MeECL, the government will also give this committee two to three months to submit its report.
