SHILLONG: Meghalaya high court has rejected an objection raised against the Meghalaya Lokayukta being impleaded as respondent in the alleged corruption in the implementation of certain projects undertaken by the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
Justice W Diengdoh of the Meghalaya high court said, “The objections raised by the petitioners respectively are hereby rejected. MC[WP(C)] No. 199 of 2023 and MC[WP(C)] No. 208 of 2023 are accordingly dismissed as devoid of merits.”
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The petitions were filed by Meghalaya home political department, DGP, SP East Garo Hills, additional SP and Withing N Sangma.
The AG had submitted the Lokayukta being a quasi-judicial body, is neither a proper nor a necessary party since the Lokayukta is not bound to defend its own order in a related proceeding.
The Meghalaya high court, however, said, “Without looking into any other aspects of the matter, suffice it to say that once it is established that the Lokayukta is a proper and necessary party in the case before this Court, the other contentions of the State petitioner as well as the petitioner in MC[WP(C)] No. 208 of 2023 pales into insignificance.”
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“In view of the above, this Court finds that the presence of the respondent Nos. 1 & 2 in MC[WP(C)] No. 199 of 2023 and respondent Nos. 2 & 3 in MC[WP(C)] No. 208 of 2023 that is, the Chairperson and Secretary, Meghalaya Lokayukta are necessary as far as these proceedings herein are concerned,” it added.
“Evidently, there exists a similar situation as far as this case and the case of Odisha Lokayukta is concerned as in both cases, the exercise of power by the Lokayukta under Section 20 of the Act to direct for preliminary inquiry was questioned and in the final analysis, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of the Odisha Lokayukta has held that the Lokayukta is a person aggrieved who has locus standi to come before the High Court. In this case, too, the presence of the Lokayukta, that is, the Chairperson and Secretary, Lokayukta are necessary and proper party for adjudication of the dispute between the parties,” it said.