KATHMANDU, Nov 7: Sixteen candidates have been shortlisted for the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), following an evaluation by the selection subcommittee.
The subcommittee on Friday published the names of the candidates who secured the highest scores, arranging them in alphabetical order. The shortlisted candidates have been asked to appear at the board's secretariat at 8:15 am on December 10 with original documents verifying their academic qualifications and professional experience.
According to the subcommittee, the 16 candidates were selected based on their evaluation scores in accordance with the Procedure for Selection and Recommendation of the Chief Executive Officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, 2083 BS.
16 candidates shortlisted for CEO position at Nepal Tourism Boa...
The shortlisted candidates are Hikmat Singh Air (Kanchanpur), Laxman Gautam (Dang), Rohini Prasad Khanal (Bhaktapur), Suresh Singh Budal (Baitadi), Shraddha Shrestha (Taplejung), Ashutosh Pradhan (Chitwan), Uttam Prasad Devkota (Chitwan) and Tek Bahadur Mahat (Ilam).
The other candidates are Dharmaraj Dawadi (Chitwan), Nojal Koirala (Morang), Yuvika Bhandari (Kathmandu), Rajaram KC (Kathmandu), Ram Chandra Sedhain (Gorkha), Binod Aryal (Palpa), Shri Prasad Bhattarai (Rupandehi) and Santosh Bikram Thapa (Kathmandu).
The shortlist includes a former minister who served in the election government formed after the Gen Z movement, three NTB employees and the CEO of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Nepal Chapter.
The candidates will also be required to present their vision for the NTB as part of the selection process, the subcommittee said. The selection process follows the government's decision to revoke political appointments through an ordinance introduced in April, following the March elections.
The ordinance, introduced by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) government led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah, amended several Nepal laws and resulted in the removal of then NTB CEO Deepak Raj Joshi. The government subsequently initiated the process of appointing a new chief executive for the NTB.