Sir,
Kudos to the Meghalaya High Court for directing the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to monitor investment of 30 per cent of the cess collected from two companies under the Meghalaya Cement Cess Act, which was earlier held ultra vires by it, in cancer care in the state.
The court would know that governments more often than not act slow or not at all on the court’s directions and was thus constrained to direct the CAG to monitor whether the government is following the direction on investing the amount in the cancer wing of the Shillong civil hospital.
Needless to say, treatment of cancer requires sophisticated machines which are costly and the government may not always be in a position to afford it. The fact that many cancer patients have to go outside the state to avail treatment shows the state may not be adequately equipped to deal with the disease.
Against this backdrop, the court’s earlier order to the government to invest 30 per cent of the cess collected for cancer care is very welcome. Now that the court has followed up the order with the direction to the CAG, it can only be hoped the money will reach where it is intended to.
Dahunshisha Marwein, Shillong