State government’s move against Lokayukta unwarranted: Imkong

August 24, 2020 126 Views No Comment

Correspondent KOHIMA, AUG 23 (NPN): Spokesperson of the NPF legislature party Imkong L. Imchen said the reasons cited by the PDA coalition government in its petition to the Supreme Court, seeking “cessation of powers and functions” of Nagaland Lokayukta Justice (Retd) Uma Nath Singh were too insufficient to warrant any action against him.

Like alluding to the saying ‘marry in haste and repent at leisure’, Imchen said the PDA government which had extracted mileage for establishing the Lokayukta was now rueing its decision. Imchen opined that the PDA now realises that the Lokayukta was not content to play ball since he wanted to assert his independence of functioning by being free from any government interference. The PDA government was therefore regretting its own decision and complaining now, he added.

Imchen claimed that the Lokayukta was doing his job well and hence there was no justification on the part of the government to make complaints based on trivial issues to justify demand for his removal.

Further, Imchen said the state government should have applied its mind properly before initiating such a process so that the public interest was not affected.

Asked about the NPF legislators’ decision to withdraw membership from the Joint Legislators’ Forum (JLF) and response to appeals from the PDA to reconsider its decision, Imchen explained that the party had taken the decision after a five-and-a-half-hour meeting and therefore expressed the hope that Central Working Committee of the party would not reverse the decision.

He alleged that the opposition legislators were not given the liberty to express their views nor were their suggestions taken seriously. These resulted in the party being compelled to boycott the one-day sixth session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly held on August 13.

Echoing the views of NPF legislature party leader TR Zeliang, Imchen alleged that chief minister Neiphiu Rio has never revealed the outcome of his meetings with Central leaders till date. He said the only meeting that the Core Committee formed by JLF has was with the governor and no other central leaders.

Imchen said it was regrettable that though NPF MLAs had suggested that a JLF delegation meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Naga political issue , nothing materialised.

He said since JLF comprised of ruling and opposition MLAs, after NPF has withdrawn, the forum has lost all credibility for all practical purposes.

Commenting on the Governor RN Ravi’s remark during his Independence Day speech which caused lot of heartburn among sections, the NPFLP spokesperson asserted that the governor had every right to advice the State cabinet and in response the latter should take such advisories in proper perspective instead of taking a confrontation.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/state-government-s-move-against-lokayukta-unwarranted-imkong/220913.html