Shillong, Feb 18: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has sought to blame the previous government’s “mistakes” made in 2016 for the proposed entry and exit points not yet becoming a reality.
Referring to the Meghalaya Residents, Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016 in the assembly on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said, “Now as lawmakers, we know that you cannot have something in the rules which is not mandated in the law.”
Pointing at the then chief minister Mukul Sangma, he said, “The LO (Mukul Sangma) knows as then CM that entry-exit points were not mandated as per the MRSSA Act, but it was put in the rules of the MRSSA implementation, and hence it cannot stand the test of judicial scrutiny.”
The chief minister emphasized that the rules had provisions for entry-exit points, but these were not backed by the Act, making it challenging to implement them.
However, Mukul Sangma disputed the CM’s claim, citing the Meghalaya High Court’s observation on facilitation centres.
“The court’s contention was that in absence of proper guidelines framed to implement or operationalise these facilitation centres… he (CM) has misled the House that MRSSA has completely failed to withstand scrutiny of the judiciary,” he said.
Conrad Sangma maintained he had only pointed to the specific issue of entry-exit points not being included in the Act. “I had specifically said that the entry-exit gates aspect was not in the Act but it was there in the rules… Anything in the rules should be backed by the Act.”
The Chief Minister agreed to table the Meghalaya High Court’s order and relevant documents, including the MRSSA Act and rules, to clarify the situation.
“We will place that and we will place specific provisions of the rules made by the government then and also the Act to show that there is no provision in the Act to have entry-exit points.”
