Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday informed that the Meghalaya Cabinet has approved an amendment to the rules governing the Search Committee responsible for recommending names for the appointment of the Chairperson and Members of the Lokayukta. The cabinet’s decision includes a revision in the sitting allowance for the committee members, doubling their honorarium.
“The cabinet decided to amendment was in terms of the rules for the search committee for the selection of panel of names for appointment of chairman and member of the Lokayukta. So there is search committee that is constituted, which we have already constituted, and this search committee will then propose some names to the main committee to then appoint and select the chairperson and the members of the Lokayukta,” the Chief Minister informed.
Clarifying the nature of the amendment, Sangma said, “Now, the search committee has been constituted in the last meeting as but under this search committee there are rules in which the search committee functions. So the decision in the cabinet today was to increase the sitting allowance for this such committee members. Very simple decision earlier, the committee members used to get Rs 2500 per sitting and it was felt that it could be increased because sittings are just one or two meetings that take place. So the amount has been increased from Rs 2500 to 5000 for the members and for the chairman from Rs 3000 to Rs 6000.”
The Chief Minister detailed the current status of the search process. “So, the search committee as I mentioned has been formed and in the last meeting where the Deputy Chief Minister, the Leader of Opposition, the Speaker and the Chief Justice were present. We have formed the search committee which will now suggest names after they invite different people to apply as well as they will also do a search process and this will submit the names to us.”
He further stated, “We have requested them to do it at the earliest. So today’s decision is not that, I mean there is decision is just to increase their sitting allowance from 2500 to 5,000 but I’m just answering to your question. So, we expect the names to be given very, very soon. Hopefully, we have requested them to do it within 30 days to 45 days. We expect that to happen soon.”
The Search Committee, chaired by former bureaucrat Peter Dkhar, comprises five members from diverse backgrounds. “Once that happens, we will be then sitting again, in the Main Committee, which is chaired by the Chief Minister and members are the Speaker, Deputy CM, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of Meghalaya. The chairman of search committee is Peter Dkhar-led five-member committee. There are members from different sections of society including one Retd District Magistrate and some other individuals,” the Chief Minister added.