Justice Khan to head Ind inquiry into MeECL scams

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 7, 2021

Retired Judge of Allahabad High Court, Justice Ifaqat Ali Khan will head the independent inquiry committee constituted by the state government to probe into the alleged scams in the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL).

A notification issued by the Chief Secretary MS Rao on June 30 said retired IAS officer Manoj Kumar will be the administrative member while retired executive director, REC Sunil Kumar as technical member of the committee.

It said the committee may submit interim reports and recommendations to the state government from time to time prior to the finalization of the report.

“The committee shall complete the inquiry and submit the final report within a period of three months from the date of notification,” it stated.

Regarding the terms of references, it said the committee shall inquire into, record findings and make recommendations concerning the following aspects of functioning of MeECL and its three subsidiary companies viz MePGCL, MePTCL and MePDCL.

“The inquiry shall cover the period from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2021,” the notification said.

It said that the inquiry will be carried out into all major procurements covering both the need as well as the process including fairness in the framing of tender clauses and the tender terms and conditions. The inquiry should cover the corporations’ own procurement as well as major procurements made under central government sponsored schemes, state funded schemes and externally-aided projects.

It should specifically look into compliance with rules and regulations governing procurements.

The inquiry would also to examine at length the aggregate technical & commercial losses covering aspects of faulty metering, under billing, poor billing efficiency, poor collection efficiency, billing & collection from industries, pilferage of power and lack of accountability.

The Inquiry should also examine the steps taken by the MeECL management to address the problem of high AT&C losses and whether these steps have the desired results.

The notification further stated that the inquiry would also look into the recruitment procedures of MeECL and its subsidiaries, their adequacy, examine some of the bulk hiring/recruitments made and also address the issue of surplus/deficit manpower across departments/sections in the corporation.

The inquiry should also cover training of personnel and accountability of key personnel.