KATHMANDU, Dec 26: The 23.13 acre land of the historic Shera Durbar built by King Prithvi Narayan Shah in Nuwakot was being sold in the name of a company. It has been found that a company was formed for agricultural purposes and land was being transferred to the company from the name of an individual. The land was grabbed by forming a company in the name of the then central member of the CPN-Maoist, Bikesh Shrestha, and his son Manobal Shrestha.
Bikesh Shrestha, who entered Annapurna Farming as a shareholder in 2073 BS, has now taken full ownership of the land and plotted it. Even though the land was taken in the name of farming, it was kept fallow without any purpose. Since Bikesh was also a central member of the Maoist party, the flipping of that land was started on the basis of power access. The Land Revenue Office of the Ministry of Land Reforms in Nuwakot has been shocked by the plotting of the land. “We have already filed a complaint about the plotting of the land,” said a local from Nuwakot’s Bidur Municipality-2. According to him, out of 23.13 acres of land 20.24 acres are in the name of Annapurna Farming.
Nuwakot Land Revenue Office Chief Minraj Bhattarai said that the land was blocked due to the land limit. “I also went there recently. I came to know about it after the news came, now it seems that it has been blocked,” Bhattarai said. He also said that he is outside Kathmandu and is not aware of everything.
The government had previously prepared to investigate the land encroachment, but the process was undermined when Pushpa Kamal Dahal became the Prime Minister. “We tried to investigate earlier, but it was stopped on Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s orders,” the source said. The person who plotted and tried to grab the land, Bikesh Shrestha, is a former member of Dahal’s secretariat. He had worked as Dahal’s chief personal secretary after the CPN-Maoist entered the peace process. He is also a central member after the Chunwang meeting. “Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had stopped the investigation into the land encroachment to protect Shrestha,” the source said.
Sources claim that the investigation into the land has been stopped because Dahal's relative Raman Pathak is also involved in it and the current government has taken the investigation process forward. According to the source, the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has already sought the details of the land. "The police have already requested the details for the investigation," the source said.
Initially on February 24, 1979, Shera Durbar and the land that was registered in its name include the plots number 82, 83, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97 and 98. A total of 13 plots, with an area of 20.72 acres, were surveyed in the name of Gaurishankar Farming, as seen from the records of the Survey Office, Nuwakot.
After the Land Reform Act, due to the limit on holding land, the land that was under the ownership of Shera Durbar was included in the share of Helen Shah and Vijaya Rajya Lakshmi Shah, the wives of King Mahendra's brother, Adhiraj Kumar Vasundhara. That land could not be surveyed in the name of the individuals due to the land ceiling and was, therefore, surveyed in the name of Gauri Shankar Farming.
Although the land of the palace was measured in the name of Gauri Shankar Farming, Helen Shah and Vijaya Rajya Lakshmi Shah were the directors and shareholders of the farm. The organization named Gauri Shankar Farming was established on 12 March 1971. However, it seems that the organization was converted into Annapurna Farming in response to the decision that was finalized on 15 June 1979.
By the order dated 27 June 1987, Annapurna Farming was mentioned in the list of the Land Revenue Office by deleting Gauri Shankar. After that, it is seen that by 2052 BS the shares of the company in the name of Vijaya Rajya Lakshmi Shah were transferred to the name of Jayanti Shah.
In 2052 BS all the shares in the names of Helen Shah and Jayanti Shah were transferred to the names of four people: Narendralal Pradhan, Kedarnath Shrestha, Sajni Shrestha, and Sohini Shrestha. After that on June 17, 2016 it is seen that Bikesh Shrestha's 567,500 shares were traded for Rs 567,500,000. Similarly, another shareholder is Ajay Kumar Suryavanshi.
It is seen that 460,410 shares were bought and sold for Rs 466,410,000. Similarly, 45,000 shares of Dhrub Lal Shrestha, a resident of Bidur Municipality-4, Nuwakot, were bought and sold for Rs 45,000,000.
Likewise, shares worth over Rs 111.7 million, including 45,000 shares of Suman Pareek, a resident of Nagarjuna Municipality-7, Kathmandu, were bought and sold in the name of four people. This land was transferred to the name of the company. Until November 20, 2001, Bikesh Shrestha and Ajay Kumar Suryavanshi remained as the shareholders, and a new shareholder was brought in for the 9 million units of shares of Bikesh Shrestha's son Manobal Shrestha. Currently, there are only 3 shareholders. The Shrestha duo is father and son.
Furthermore, the land located in Bidur Municipality-2 of Nuwakot should have been in the name of Nepal Trust. However, as it turns out, this land has been taken over by the land mafia. Now, after they have taken full ownership and plotted it to sell, the Nepal government has initiated an investigation.
Shrestha, the owner of Annapurna Farming, has held the positions of not only a central member of the Maoist party but also has been in the personal secretariat of former Prime Minister Dahal. For this reason, no one within the Maoists has raised questions on this issue.
After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement 2063, the government of Nepal decided to transfer the property of the royal family and the royal palaces to the Nepal Trust. The land of Shera Durbar should also be in the name of Nepal Trust. However, the land has been plotted for sale on the basis of political access.