Meghalaya government faces accusations over coal mining and recruitment

Opposition leader Dr. Mukul Sangma has accused the Meghalaya government and police of using tactics to prevent the prosecution of illegal coal mining and transportation cases. Sangma claims the government clubs various cases together to make them overly complex and time-consuming, ultimately leading to a lack of substantive evidence in court. He also questioned the government's decision to increase the reported figure of previously extracted coal from 2 lakh tonnes to 32 lakh tonnes, suggesting this inflation could allow newly mined coal to be mislabeled as old stock.

Separately, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma faces accusations of misleading the public regarding a recruitment stay by the Meghalaya High Court. While the government suggested the court stayed Lower Division Assistant (LDA) interviews due to an alleged recruitment scam, candidates claim the stay was actually due to a petition from excluded applicants. The High Court has directed the state to produce recruitment records and explain how merit was determined for the final shortlist.