MRSSA in force, but legal gaps stall entry-exit checkpoints: Prestone Tynsong

CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Home (Police) Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday asserted that the Meghalaya Residence Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016 continues to be implemented by the state government, even as he clarified that the principal Act does not contain provisions for setting up entry and exit points, a limitation that has constrained its full operational scope.

Addressing media persons, Tynsong said the MRSSA is very much in force, particularly in the state capital, and rejected suggestions that the law had been abandoned. He explained that while the government has taken several administrative steps to strengthen the mechanism under the Act, certain legal shortcomings in its original framework prevent the authorities from establishing formal entry and exit checkpoints.

Talking to reporters, Tynsong said, "Who told you that we abandoned MRSSA? MRSSA is partly being implemented we are functioning under MRSSA where we already have even the district task force headed by each deputy commissioner, so we have already activated it and as per the rules it is there and we are making it more effective in all other districts, specially in Shillong let me tell you one thing we do have and it is fully functional, specially in Shillong."

The Deputy Chief Minister cautioned against misinterpreting his earlier remarks on the law and reiterated that the absence of provisions related to entry and exit points stems from the original structure of the Act itself. He stressed that this gap is not a recent development but a long-standing issue that has hindered comprehensive enforcement.

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