Following the government directives, Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Home Secretary Sushil Jung Bahadur Rana and Law and Justice Secretary Bhesh Raj Sharma held an emergency meeting at Singha Durbar on Saturday. [break]
"The government is preparing to bring the new law shortly and it is likely to lay down that only former presidents, former vice presidents, ex-prime ministers, retired chief justice and former speakers will be entitled to state facilities," an official, preferring anonymity, told Republica.
Sources also disclosed that the former prime ministers who returned or have decided to return their vehicles, will get back the same vehicles within a couple of days once the new law comes into effect. "The government is making preparations accordingly," the official said. However, they are still studying whether they need to bring a new act of parliament or new regulations will do.
The government can immediately bring new regulations into effect after endorsement by a cabinet meeting but it requires more time to bring in a new act as this requires endorsement by parliament.
The meeting also entrusted Home Secretary Rana with the responsibility of preparing an initial draft of the new regulations.
The SC, in its verdict on Thursday, instructed the government to provide state benefits only as per the law and nullified all cabinet decisions taken at different times in this connection. The benefits were provided on the strength of the cabinet decisions.
The apex court verdict sparked a flurry of activity among top leaders of major political parties over the last two days for returning vehicles they were using in their capacity as former prime ministers and ex-home ministers.
What are ex-PMs riding now?
With the return of government vehicles, some former prime ministers are now left without any personal vehicle.
According to aides, former prime ministers Jhalanath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have no personal vehicle and they are in discussions about finding new vehicles.
"He has no personal vehicle at present. But since he is also the UML chairman, the party will shortly find a vehicle for him," Khanal´s aide Ram Babu Adhikari told Republica. According to Bishnu Rijal, aide to ex-PM and senior UML leader Nepal, the latter has no vehicle now and is yet to find a new one. "There is no vehicle with any other member of his family either. So he urgently needs a vehicle, but he is yet to decide on the matter," said Rijal.
Former PM Lokendra Bahadur Chand also has no personal vehicle. "Following the SC verdict, I am asking my son to pick and drop me to and from my destinations," Chand told Republica.
The only two former prime ministers who own personal vehicles are Nepali Congress (NC) leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and Rastriya Janashakti Party Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa. Deuba´s aide Badri Sigdel and Thapa´s aide Kiran Giri said they are using SUVs.
Meanwhile, former home ministers Bhim Rawal and Bamdev Gautam also returned the vehicles they were using on Saturday, said Ekmani Nepal, assistant spokesman at the Home Ministry.
No return of security officials
The government, however, hasn´t issued any instructions with regard to recalling personnel deployed for the security of the leaders.
Officials said that despite the court order they cannot abruptly remove the security details, so as to avoid any untoward incident.
"Following the court order, I requested the security personnel deployed for my security to go back but they told me they wouldn´t do so unless they got an order from their command," said Chand. "When I made enquiries, I found that similar was the case with other leaders as well."
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