Appointment of more people for Lokayukta will be as per requirement: CM

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 19, 2021

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that appointment of more people for the Meghalaya Lokayukta will be done as per the requirement.

His statement also came in the wake after the Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to file an affidavit informing as to when it would constitute a fully functional Lokayukta in the state.

The Court had also stated that as of date the Lokayukta is not in existence as simply appointing a retired judge to be the chairperson of the Meghalaya Lokayukta is not enough to be considered as a fully constituted and functional body.

Referring to section 3 of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014, the court further stated that in order to constitute a body to be called the Lokayukta, it has to comprise of a Chairperson and such other number of members not exceeding four out of whom fifty percent shall be judicial members.

When asked, Sangma told reporters that the rules have been amended to allow the Lokayukta to function with just the chairperson.

Stating that this is not the case in Meghalaya alone, he said, “Many other states have also got only one person as the chairperson who runs the Lokayukta.”

The CM however added, “As per situation requirement, we will be going ahead and seeing when the situation requires appointing more people.”

To another query, Sangma said if there are requirements, then they (office of the Lokayukta) can always inform and obviously the government will ensure that whatever is required will be provided.