Govt ready to institute inquiry: CM

Sangma told reporters that the government has never shied away from instituting any inquiries and commissions.

“So let the process continue (in this case)…any enquiry that has to be done we will not shy away from that either, so there is no problem in that we  will do what it takes,” he said adding “Obviously, if there is anything wrong that has happened definitely we will go ahead and put some inquiry into this thing.”

The chief minister further assured that the government will definitely take action as per the suggestions given by the home department and its officials.

“We are not here not to take action,” he reminded.

Asserting that it is not correct and proper to just jump into a conclusion on the matter, Sangma said, “I don’t think it is proper to jump into conclusion where we simply start saying that everything is a scam…what I am trying to say is that there are some criteria that go into a scam, have they misuse public funds or has there some kind of an issue in that so I think those things have to be studied and examined.”

The chief minister said that he had mentioned about a week or ten days back that “from overall initial look of everything that was happening it looks like there were some issues that were concerning the allotment that took place, some delays and some use or misuse of some areas but in principle the procedures look to be in place that is what it looks like.”

“Of course the department is going into the entire inquiry, they will go into the details and they will come up with their findings and as per the suggestions given by the home department and the officials we will definitely take actions regarding this,” he reiterated.

In its report, the fact finding team of the police headed by Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) MK Singh said that a total of 29 vehicles were in personal custody of AIG A, GK Iangrai MPS before April 2022 without any orders from the competent authority.

Amongst these, (1) one new Scorpio, (1) one New Bolero, (2) Two New Swift Desire and (2) Two new Bajaj Motor Cycles have not been allotted registration numbers due to non- supply of documents by AIG A. And, also for the fact that most of them do not have the latest mandatory BS VI standards and as such they do not comply to the directions and Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highway…which is a clear-cut violation of norms.

In addition to the above, a total number of eight (8) number of new Bajaj Pulsar 150 cc motor Cycles which were purchased in the year 2019 could not be registered since no documents are available.

One Hyundai Verna which is parked at Central Workshop has been allotted a fake number and no registration of the vehicle was done by AIG A since no documents are available.

Further, the following vehicles have not been allotted to any officer and as such can be kept as pool vehicles or allotted to officers or units.

The state of the 7 police personnel who were working with AIG A were also recorded

Perusal of their statements, reveal that the delivery of most of the vehicles procured by PHQ under various heads were personally managed by AIG A through various people attached to him. These vehicles were then taken directly on his orders to either Police Officer Mess or MPRO complex where they were kept and the keys of all these vehicles were kept in his official residence. Their Statement also reveals a lot of crucial facts which point at glaring mismanagement and misuse of power by AIG A.

“Often, these vehicles without any registration were used for his personal purpose without any sanction from Police Headquarters. No log books were ever maintained for these vehicles even though POL/DOL coupons were issued by AIG A himself on a regular basis,” the report said.

The report said that the conduct of AIG A in the entire matter reflects gross negligence of duties and his conduct in the entire matter is unbecoming of an officer.

Meanwhile, the fact finding team suggested the need for a departmental enquiry should be constituted against all erring officials to fix the responsibilities for all the lapses that has occurred.

“A high-level Fact-finding enquiry should be formed to go into the details of the entire scam, since this enquiry report may not reflect the entire magnitude of the scam,” it said.

It further suggested a comprehensive SOP should be prepared for procurement of vehicles, handing over, taking over records maintained at more than one place for cross verification of records.

“Prima facie, it has to be acknowledged and accepted that record keeping in the department is very poor and as such there is a need for proper overhauling of the mechanism of record keeping. Considering these loopholes, this leads to mismanagement and various malpractices as manifested in this instant case.

The Central Workshop, Bishnupur as it caters to all units of Meghalaya police should be placed directly under the supervision of an officer not below the rank of the DIG.

A proper mechanism be kept in place for expediting the condemnation process of vehicles.

Capacity building of the existing manpower at CWS and identifying new talents from different units so that they can cater to minor repairs at their respective units.

Streamlining of the entry and exit register needs to be done so that there is a proper record of vehicles kept at CWS.

The security of Central Motor Workshop, Bishnupur needs to be reviewed and an SOP should be issued in this regard,” it further suggested.

By Our Reporter