The five-member committee headed by Dr Kayo Devi Yami, acting chief of Public Service Commission (PSC), has Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Tika Datta Niraula, member of the PSC, and Bharat Bahadur Thapa, former industries secretary, as members. Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Banskota is the member-secretary in the committee.[break]
The first task of the committee is to interview candidates for the post of the chairman cum chief executive of the PE Management Board. The government has already invited applications from qualified people to apply for the post by Jan 16. Of the people interviewed, names of three best candidates will be forwarded to the government for final approval.
The committee will also interview candidates for four posts of members in the board of directors of the PE Management Board. Of this, three should hold Bachelor´s degree in economics, management, law, science, agriculture or engineering and have 10-year experience in respective field, while the other should be a qualified chartered accountant with at least a decade of work experience. Other members in the PE Management Board are top civil servants, namely, secretary overseeing PEs in the prime minister´s office and finance secretary.
“Once the board of directors of the PE Management Board is formed it will immediately formulate guidelines to bring the Board into operation,” Khum Raj Punjali, joint-secretary of the Ministry of Finance, told Republica.
The formation of the board of directors of the PE Management Board will also pave way for the government to remove chief executives and board members of all PEs, who were handpicked, and replace them with new ones selected through open competition.
Since last month, when Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai issued the PE Management Board (Formation and Operations) Order, the government has put formation of the Board on the fast track, as most of the 36 PEs ranging from cigarette manufacturing and cement industries to media houses have been incurring losses turning them into liabilities for the state.
Once the PE Management Board is formed, it will take the lead in recommending reform measures to the government for enhancing the performance of all PEs -- a task, which at present is being handled by line ministries of respective state-owned firms.
The board will also be responsible for making suitable restructuring prescriptions such as merger, public-private partnership or liquidation, among others, to enhance the efficiency of PEs. It will also develop indicators to evaluate the performance of PEs and its employees, and design guidelines on appointment of staff members.
´Bring new labor laws´
A parliamentary committee on labor and economic relations has asked the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management to develop new laws on labor and amend the old ones that have become obsolete and submit it to the parliament by Jan 29. The committee, however, has not specified names of the laws.
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