Meghalaya: Independent Inquiry Committee formed to probe alleged anomalies in MeECL
The Home (Political) Department has, in this regard, announced the names of the members of the inquiry committee who will submit its final report within three months from the date of the notification.
The Government of Meghalaya has constituted an independent inquiry committee to investigate the alleged irregularities and scams in the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL).
The Home (Political) Department has, in this regard, announced the names of the members of the inquiry committee who will submit its final report within three months from the date of the notification.
According to a release from the Political Department, the experts namely retired judge of Allahabad High Court Justice Ifaqat Ali Khan, Retired IAS Manoj Kumar, and retired Executive Director of Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) Sunil Kumar will inquire into the allegations of corruption levelled against the MeECL.
The committee shall, as per the terms and reference, inquire into record findings and make recommendations concerning the functioning of MeECL and its three subsidiary companies-Meghalaya Power Generation Corporation Ltd (MePGCL), Meghalaya Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (MePTCL) and Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (MePDCL).
The inquiry will be done for the period between April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2021, and the committee will focus on three core areas namely Procurement, AT & C losses and Human Resource Management.
Procurement
The panel will inquire about all major procurements made by the department including fairness in framing tender clauses and the tender terms and conditions. The committee will look into procurements made under state-funded, central government-sponsored schemes and Externally Aided Projects (EAPs).
In addition to that, the committee will also verify if MeECL complied with the governing procedures while making the procurement and benchmark the same against other energy corporations in the North East states.
AT & C Losses
As for the losses in the corporation over the years, the Panel will examine at length the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) Losses, covering aspects of faulty metering, under billing, poor billing efficiency, poor collection efficiency, billing and collection from industries, pilferage of power and lack of accountability.
The committee will also examine the steps taken by the MeECL management to address the problems of high AT & C losses and if these steps have had the desired results.
Human Resource Management
The team will also investigate matters pertaining to the recruitment procedures of the MeECL and its subsidiaries. The issue of manpower across all departments including transparency in the hiring process, deficit/surplus manpower to run the corporation etc.
Besides the above areas of inquiry, the state government may assign additional matters/deliverables that require in-depth examination and add them to the above Terms of Reference (ToR).
(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)
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