PHC meeting on ambassador-nominee Bhattarai stalled due to lack of quorum

KATHMANDU, Sept 23: A meeting of the Parliamentary Hearings Committee of the Federal Parliament on Monday remained undecided over the nomination of Ram Krishna Bhattarai as ambassador to Sri Lanka.

The meeting ended inconclusively due to the lack of a quorum to decide on the nomination. During the  meeting, only eight members, out of 15, were present. 

Committee member Shyam Kumar Ghimire said the presence of two-thirds of members or at least 10 is required to decide on the proposal to appoint Ghimire as the ambassador to Sri Lanka. 

Earlier, the committee demanded the certificate of Bachelor's degree of the nominee to prove him academically eligible for the appointment. But, the committee has not yet received the document. It has been reported the certificate is not available at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well.  

The committee is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday to discuss the issue. Ghimire made it clear that the government's recommendation to appoint Bhattarai as the ambassador will not be accepted if he fails to submit the document by Tuesday.

As per the directives regarding the appointment of an ambassador, the nominee must have at least completed the Bachelor's degree to be academically eligible for the appointment. The names of 16 people who were proposed as ambassadors for various countries along with Bhattarai have been already endorsed by the committee.

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