Cabinet may decide matter today
KATHMANDU, March 4: Two ministers have been at loggerheads for nearly one month regarding the transfer and placement of over a dozen secretaries to various ministries and government bodies, sources in the government said.
A row between Finance Minister Ramsharan Mahat and Minister for General Administration Lal Babu Pandit has stalled the transfer and placement of over 12 secretaries.Cabinet may decide matter today
KATHMANDU, March 4: Two ministers have been at loggerheads for nearly one month regarding the transfer and placement of over a dozen secretaries to various ministries and government bodies, sources in the government said.
A row between Finance Minister Ramsharan Mahat and Minister for General Administration Lal Babu Pandit has stalled the transfer and placement of over 12 secretaries.
“If everything goes as planned, the Cabinet may take a decision over the transfer and placement of eight newly-promoted secretaries who are yet to be given their responsibilities,” a source close to the prime minister told Republica. The source said that the secretarial transfers and placements will be decided on the basis of power-sharing this time round also.
Earlier, rounds of talks between Minister Pandit and NC ministers had failed to yield any fruit in this connection.
The coalition partners have yet again locked horns over the matter.
According to sources, newly-promoted secretary Nawaraj Bhandari is supposed to become revenue secretary at the Ministry of Finance as per Finance Minister Mahat’s proposal. “If a new secretary-level position is created, it is likely that Bhandari will become revenue secretary,” the sources said. Bhandari is said to be close to the Nepali Congress.
However, Minister Pandit is objecting to Minister Mahat’s stance that a new secretary should not be given responsibility over revenue-related matters as the new man may not have the necessary experience to handle revenue-related matters.
Secretary at the Ministry of General Administration Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya is also seeking to be transferred to the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). Upadhyaya had served at MoCS at different periods and in different capacities in the past and has expertise in commerce and trade.
According to sources, Secretary Rajan Khanal is likely to become secretary at the Ministry of General Administration. Similarly, Secretary at the Public Procurement Monitoring Office, Tankamani Sharma, is seeking to become secretary at the Finance Ministry if the additional secretary-level post is created by the Cabinet. Sharma is said to be close to the CPN-UML.
Secretary Dinesh Chandra Thapaliya, who is currently serving as administrator at the Pokhara-based Western Regional Administration Office, is also seeking to be transferred to any Kathmandu-based ministry or government body.
Ending a row between the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, a Cabinet meeting had promoted 16 joint secretaries to secretaries on Feb 5.
Sources privy to the development said that seven joint-secretaries were promoted at that time as per the NC´s choice and six were selected by UML, while three other joint-secretaries and a deputy auditor general were picked on seniority basis.
However, eight out of those 16 secretaries are yet to be given any responsibility. Rajan Khanal, Nabaraj Bhandari, Laxman Mainali, Shreedhar Sapkota, Ram Kumar Acharya, Sharad Raj Bista, Gajendra Thakur and Suresh Prakash Acharya have not yet been given any responsibilities.
“Those eight secretaries are currently in the reserve pool under the Ministry of General Administration (MoGA),” spokesperson at MoGA Suresh Adhikari told Republica.
It has become a daily routine for these secretaries to sign the attendance book at the Prime Minister’s Office since their promotion last month. Some of them are running after the political party leaders to ensure choice postings for themselves, sources at the PMO said.
The sources said that Minister Pandit has not given his consent to a Ministry of Finance proposal to create two additional posts of secretaries at MoF although Minister Mahat is piling pressure on Pandit to do so.
Talking to Republica, Pandit said that two additional secretary-level posts at the Finance Ministry would be redundant.
“We can add one more secretary-level position at the Finance Ministry given the workload at the ministry. But it is useless to add two more secretary-level positions,” Pandit maintained.
It is mandatory for ministries or government bodies to seek the prior consent of MoGA for creating new positions at their respective offices until a Cabinet decision is taken in this connection.