A highly placed cabinet source said the provision was withdrawn following Prime Minister Madhav Nepal´s strong objection to it. [break]
According to the source, the provision in the directive that was amended three weeks ago was revoked after the prime minister complained that it was issued without informing him.
“We have revoked the provision to clip the prime minister´s power," the source said, adding that the prime minister can now provide financial assistance to anybody in his discretion as in the past.
The cabinet had curtailed the PM´s power to distribute the assistance through the Finance Section of his office, citing alleged irregularities in the distribution.
Now the PM will be allowed again to distribute assistance to poor people and those suffering from critical diseases. The directive is, however, silent on the definition of poor and people suffering from critical diseases.
Earlier, the three-week-old directive had authorized the Ministry of Home Affairs to distribute financial assistance to those recommended by the prime minister after assessing the status, living standards and genuine needs of the assistance seekers. The prime minister had objected to this provision, saying that the amendment was made to ´defame his reputation´.
“We are about to send the fresh directive to Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction and Ministry of Health asking them to act as per the fresh provisions and not to act as per the directive issued three weeks ago,” another high ranking official told myrepublica.com on condition of anonymity.
Only a few months back, the Ministry of Finance had declined to release additional money for financial assistance sought by Prime Minister Nepal, citing budgetary limitations and misuse of such assistance.
Prime Minister Nepal has already spent Rs 30.05 million in financial assistance although the budget allocated for the purpose this year is only Rs 3 million.
Meanwhile, other provisions included in the directive three weeks ago have been kept intact. Through the directive, the government has fixed a ceiling on the amounts that can be released as financial assistance to former presidents, vice presidents, former prime ministers, ministers, bureaucrats, litterateurs and national figures.
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