Shillong Dec 10: The Meghalaya cabinet on Monday approved an ordinance for amending section 5 of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014 relating to the appointment of members of the Lokyukta.
Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, said that the Cabinet has approved a proposal to amend section 5 of the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014 in order to allow the office of the Chairperson of Lokayukta to function even when the members are yet to be appointed.
“As of now we have only the Chairperson of Lokayukta. Therefore to make the office functional, one amendment is needed in section 5. Since amendment of the Act has to be passed by the State Assembly, the Cabinet has approved an ordinance for amending this particular section,†Tynsong said.
Section 5 states that the Governor shall take or cause to be taken all necessary steps for the appointment of a new Chairperson and members atleast three months before the expiry of the expiry of the term of such Chairperson or member as the case may be, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Act.
The Lokayukta should have not exceeding four members out of whom, fifty per cent shall be judicial members.
Draft Meghalaya Telecom Infrastructure Policy approved
The State cabinet on Monday has approved the draft Meghalaya Telecom Infrastructure Policy, 2018.
According to Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, the policy will address various problems relating to mobile network in the state including erection of mobile towers by the BSNL and other private service providers.
Tynsong also informed that the policy will be effective from January 15, next year.
“Once this important policy is in place, network will improve in the state,†he said.
Informing that Meghalaya was supposed to get more than 2,000 mobile towers to be set up by BSNL and other private service providers in the near future, Tynsong said the problem faced was that, once a tower is closed down, the other operators cannot utilize it, since there has been no policy to address that.
Citing an instance of the shutdown by Aircel Company, he said that the towers of this company were lying idle and the private service providers have to sit among themselves so that they can utilize such (non-functional) towers.
He also informed that the policy would pave the way for the government to give permission to mobile companies to set up towers in government offices and buildings.
“It was a common problem faced by most mobile service providers due to failure of the people especially in Shillong to allow them to install mobile towers on their respective private land. Many companies in the past had approached the government, but in the absent of a policy, permission cannot be simply granted for installing mobile towers (on government properties),†the Deputy Chief Minister said.
7th Central Pay Commission adopted for over 717 UGC lecturers
Meanwhile the State Cabinet has adopted the 7th Central Pay Commission for 717 UCG lecturers who are teaching in government-run colleges as well as deficit grant in aid colleges in the state.
Meghalaya has 112 lecturer in government colleges and 605 lecturers in deficit grant in aid colleges.
The State government has spend Rs 58 crore, 5 lakh, 69 thousand, 948 for adopting the 7th Central Pay Commission which will take effective from January 1, 2016.
The State Cabinet also decided to extend government’s guarantee to the Meghalaya Power Generation Corporation Limited (MPGCL) for availing a loan of Rs 170 crore to improve the Umtrew hydro electric project.
Last year, the Cabinet had decided to extend the government’s guarantee to the MeECL for availing loan Rs 800 crore but the loan was not granted.
“In order to allow the MPGCL to avail the loan, we adjusted RS 170 crore out of Rs 800 crore and the remaining guarantee is Rs 630 crore,†Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said.
