KATHMANDU, Feb 28: One of the main accused in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, the then Home Secretary Teknarayan Pandey, has taken mandatory retirement while being held in pretrial detention at the Central Jail in Sundhara.
The government promoted Pandey to Secretary on February 24, 2020. After completing his 5-year term as Secretary, he took mandatory retirement on February 23, 2025.
Pandey served in various key roles after working up to undersecretary in the education sector.
He became Secretary and served his term as the head of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Chief of Karnali Province. Pandey was then transferred to the Vice President's office after serving one year as Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
While serving at the Ministry of Home Affairs, authorities arrested him on charges of irregularities in the fake Bhutanese refugee case. The Kathmandu District Court, Patan High Court, and the Supreme Court have all ordered his continued detention for further investigation.
The Committee, chaired by Madhav Prasad Regmi, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, has recommended the senior-most undersecretaries for promotion to the Secretary position after Pandey’s mandatory retirement. Undersecretaries Birendra Yadav, Madan Bhujel, and Chandrakala Paudel are the individuals recommended for promotion.
Bhujel serves as the Chief Secretary of the Madhesh Province Government. Yadav works as the Secretary in the Madhesh Government, while Poudel leads the Administration Division at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.
Yadav, who was appointed as a joint secretary in 2006, is now senior among the current joint secretaries. However, Yadav initially faced a delay in becoming a Secretary because he did not complete the required Senior Executive Development Program (SEDP) training as per the Civil Service Act. When Bhujel took over as the Acting Chief Secretary of the Madhesh Province Government, Yadav had not yet completed this training.
Now that Yadav has completed the training, Bhujel is regarded as the senior official and is set for promotion to Secretary, according to sources from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. The upcoming Cabinet will promote one individual to the position of Secretary.