KATHMANDU, June 10: While remote districts continue to suffer from a shortage of subbas (non-gazetted first-class officers), authorities have overcrowded the immigration office at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) with excess staff. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has failed to deploy officials to remote areas but has assigned more personnel than the sanctioned limit to the airport immigration office.
Noticing this overstaffing, the Office of the Prime Minister issued a seven-day explanation notice to Home Secretary Gokarna Mani Duwadi. Although the airport immigration office has 121 approved positions, officials had previously assigned over 140 officers there.
Following an investigation into Under Secretary Tirtha Raj Bhattarai, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) reduced the excess staffing at the immigration office. Currently, 191 officers work there. During Bhattarai's tenure as office head, he had assigned 18 subbas despite only nine sanctioned posts. That number has now been cut back to nine. Similarly, the number of undersecretaries was previously increased to eight against a quota of six and has now been trimmed to six.
While the MoHA struggles to meet staffing quotas in remote offices, it has repeatedly deployed staff to the airport immigration office. "Some officers have been posted to immigration two or even three times. No one wants to serve in remote districts. Many district administration offices have complained they cannot function properly due to staff shortages, while those at the immigration office use political connections to retain their positions," said a Ministry of Home Affairs official.
The CIAA began questioning Under Secretary Tirtha Raj Bhattarai and travel agency operators over visit visa misuse and later focused on immigration office staffing. During the investigation, the CIAA requested the Prime Minister's Office for details on the Ministry of Home Affairs' sanctioned posts and deployed personnel. Acting on the inquiry, the Prime Minister's Office and Council of Ministers issued a seven-day explanation notice to Home Secretary Duwadi, demanding reasons for deploying more staff than approved.
Since Home Secretary Duwadi is currently abroad, Secretary Govinda Bahadur Karki of the Prime Minister's Office wrote to him requesting an explanation and a detailed report on the excess deployment. Ram Chandra Tiwari, spokesperson and joint secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, clarified that it is routine for the Prime Minister's Office to issue such directives. "The Prime Minister's Office regularly instructs ministries to manage their staffing properly," he said.
After media reports revealed the MoHA had deployed more personnel than sanctioned at the airport immigration office and some district administration offices, and assigned staff on deputation to posts without approved quotas, authorities requested full details of all deputed staff.
A few days ago, the MoHA recalled the excess personnel from the immigration office. The CIAA uncovered the overstaffing after investigating visit visa misuse and placed Under Secretary Bhattarai, known as a close confidant of Home Secretary Duwadi, under scrutiny.
On May 27, the CIAA sent a letter directing immediate investigation and action. The Prime Minister's Office and Council of Ministers then forwarded the directive to the MoHA, citing a violation of Section 18 (A) of the Civil Service Act, 2049 (1993). The letter warned that officials violating deputation rules must reimburse salaries, allowances, and benefits and face departmental action.
Secretary Karki instructed Home Secretary Duwadi to submit a detailed list of all offices with excess staff, including names, within seven days. The Prime Minister's Office also sent warning letters threatening possible action to Home Secretary Duwadi and the Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration. On June 4, it issued these letters to Home Secretary Duwadi and Federal Affairs Secretary Rabi Lal Panth.
Karki urged both secretaries to provide a detailed list of offices with staff exceeding sanctioned positions and to ensure staff management according to quotas within seven days, submitting updates to his office.
At the airport immigration office, undersecretaries Anjan Neupane, Achyut Shrestha, Khemraj Upadhyay, Churna Bahadur Khatri, Suresh Acharya, Nirajan Shrestha, Ishwaridatt Paneru, and Phanindra Paudel have been deployed. The ministry has since reduced this number to six. After complaints about visit visa manipulation surfaced, the CIAA took Chief Under Secretary Tirtha Raj Bhattarai into custody on May 21. Soon after, the MoHA transferred the excess deputy subbas and computer operators from the office.