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The two documents, issued by the chief minister’s office on separate occasions, show contradicting claims. The first document was issued on Thursday, while the second document was issued to the press on Friday.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 18: The controversy surrounding TR Zeliang's signature on an official document containing the list of beneficiaries of the Chief Minister’s Road Development Fund (CMRDF) made on the 8th of March 2017 as chief minister, sixteen days after he resigned from the chair, continues to raise questions even after the media cell of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) attempted to clarify the matter as “clerical error”.
The CMO media cell’s 'clarification' was issued close on the heels of a CMO source clarifying to
Eastern Mirror on Thursday that the date under Zeliang’s signature read “2” (February) in the slot indicating the month and not “3” (March).
The CMO media cell also claimed that the list was prepared in January and submitted to the department of Roads & Bridges on January 23. But when the change of guard took place and the new Chief Minister Dr. Shürhozielie Liezietsu suggested some alterations be made to the list, a meeting between the former chief minister and the new chief minister took place on March 8 where changes were made.
“However, owing to clerical error, the designation of the former chief minister was not corrected and appeared on the document as what it had been when submitted on January 23. The former chief minister too, through oversight, signed on the document as it was presented to him by the staffers,” the media cell had stated in its communiqué.
Besides, the first attempt at clarifying the goof up by an official of the CMO, the staffers of the CMO admitting to have made the huge “clerical error” from confusion about the names of the former and the incumbent chief minister, is questionable.
If the designation of the former chief minister was not corrected as the CMO media cell claims, then the question is, was it appropriate for the former chief minister to sign on the CMRDF document and not the incumbent chief minister?
