Meghalaya to repeal Lokayukta act

Meghalaya government today said it would repeal the Lokayukta Act, 2013 and introduce a new legislation following the passage of the Lokpal Bill by Parliament in December 2013.
"Since the Parliament has passed the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013, we have to re-introduce the Bills in conformity with the principal Act passed in the Parliament," Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
"It will be called as the Meghalaya Lokayukta Act, 2014, it is not an amendment but will be a replacement of the existing Act," he said.
The new Act will be fine tuned in areas where the number of members appointed will be five including the chairman.

The state government has also felt the need to include former chief secretaries besides retired high court judges as members of the ombudsman in view of the difficulty in finding available retired high court judges in the state, he said.