SHILLONG, OCT 22: The opposition in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) has slammed the Voice of the People Party (VPP)-led executive committee (EC) for allegedly tarnishing the image of an officer by making public a showcause notice issued in regards to the professional tax issue.

Participating during a zero hour notice raised by Mawshynrut MDC S Rashir, Leader of Opposition Titosstarwell Chyne expressed surprise and concern over the recent incident in which the showcause notice issued to superintendent of professional tax was made public.

Chyne questioned whether the notices issued by the superintendent of professional tax were illegal?
He also sought to know how many times the Executive Member (EM) of Taxation needs to give approval for such notices, and under what rule the showcause notice was issued against the superintendent.

Chyne expressed concern that the EC’s actions may have created a culture of fear among officers, making them hesitant to work.

“If this is the style of working of the present EC, whether we will still have the confidence of the officers? Whether officers will work with fear?” he asked.

He also warned that making public confidential official correspondences could lead to file works and file notings being leaked to the media.

Chyne alleged that the EC’s reaction was prompted by allegations on social media, and that they were ready to victimize an officer just because of these allegations.

NPP MDC from Nongshken, Grace Mary Kharpuri has strongly criticized the EC for issuing a showcause notice to the superintendent of professional tax and making it public.

Kharpuri stated that this is an unprecedented move in the history of the KHADC and is tantamount to tarnishing the image of an officer.

Kharpuri explained that issuing notices is a part of the procedure and does not necessarily mean that traders will have to pay professional taxes.

She questioned the Chief Executive Member’s claim that the whole exercise was done without the knowledge of the EC, pointing out that there was a caretaker CEM in place at the time.
Kharpuri argued that if there was no EC, then there should have been Governor’s rule.

Kharpuri condemned the decision to make the showcause notice public, stating that it is a violation of the officer’s private rights and is defamatory. She urged the EC to refrain from such actions, which are aimed at saving its own image in the media.

“When officers are performing their duties, you cannot defame them. Who will ensure their security while doing their duty?” she asked.

In his reply, Chief Executive Member (CEM) Winston Tony Lyngdoh clarified that he had stated in the media that the issuing of notices for payment of professional taxes was done without the knowledge of the EC.

Lyngdoh said that the EC had already decided that it would serve a showcause notice if it found that staff and officers were involved in issuing the notices without their knowledge. He claimed that the EC had not named any officer in their statement to the media, but rather, the name of the officer was leaked on social media.

Regarding the allegations that the EC had made the officer a scapegoat, Lyngdoh said it was their duty as EC and MDCs to support their officers and that they had no intention of making anybody a scapegoat.

He cited rules 27-28 of the AD Rules, 1951, which grant him the power to call for disciplinary proceedings or issue showcause notices.

Lyngdoh urged the members to allow the EC to examine the officer’s reply and assured that they would take necessary action if required.

Earlier in his reply, Executive Member (EM) in-charge of Taxation, Seibor Warbah stated that the decision of CEM to call for an explanation from the officer was aimed at streamlining and preventing confusion in the minds of the public.

Warbah said that the EC’s goal was to strengthen the mechanism, which had been weak, and not to put their officers in a difficult situation.

“We have no intention to put our officers in a difficult situation. We used to call them to discuss all the time,” he said.

Warbah explained that despite an order to revoke the issuance of notices to small-time shopkeepers, the notices were still issued, prompting the EC to take action.

“We will not allow this, we will address. We have not come here for our own interest but we have come here to streamline the functioning of the KHADC,” he said.

He added that issuing showcause notices was necessary to streamline things and improve the working conditions.

“It is a wake-up call to improve the working condition. If you accept or not, whatever happened has happened. We need to issue showcause notices to streamline things,” Warbah stated.

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