Shillong, Sept 13: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday said the government has appointed a new chairperson to head the independent inquiry committee to probe into the alleged scams in the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL).

Sangma however told reporters that he does not remember the name of the new chairperson.

“The inquiry is going on very much, in fact the last I have heard that they have requested for more manpower… for proper space to sit… proper machines and equipment and everything. Therefore, it is going on in full swing but I have not spoken to them individually but information that has come to me is that the inquiry is very much in progress,” he informed.

Earlier in July, the state government had appointed retired Judge of Allahabad High Court, Justice Ifaqat Ali Khan as chairperson of the independent inquiry committee.

When asked about the alleged refusal of Justice Khan to head the inquiry, the Chief Minister said that Justice Khan was not able to join as he got injured after a bad fall in the bathroom.

“We were informed after few days that he had a very bad fall in the bathroom and he had injured himself and he was not able to get up from the bed and he had said that he would require four-six weeks to recover and if the government could wait he would continue and if not it was up to the government,” he said.

“Therefore we felt that six-seven weeks of delaying the inquiry would again raise unnecessary concerns. We then decided based on the communication given by the concerned judge at that point we will change. Based on that more names and recommendations were given and based on that we again selected a new chairperson,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the terms of reference of the inquiry committee are very broad adding it will cover allegations related to the Saubhagya scheme and Smart meter projects.

“I do expect the inquiry will be completed very soon,” he added.