KATHMANDU, June 13: The Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration has formed a panel to facilitate the government’s plan to implement a report on the encroachment of public and government land submitted by the Rawal Commission 31 years ago.
According to the ministry, an eight-member committee was formed under Krishna Prasad Sapkota, Deputy Director General of the Department of Survey, on Friday. The move came on the same day the Cabinet decided to implement the three-decade-old report.
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Under-secretaries from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, chiefs of the Land Administration Office and the Survey Office in Dillibazaar, and heads of relevant government line offices are among the members. An officer from the Department of Survey has been appointed as the member-secretary.
The Rawal Commission found that 1,187 encroachers had occupied 308 plots of public and government land for private use. It further reported that 6,906 individuals had encroached upon 1,762 additional plots of public and government land.
In total, the commission identified 8,093 encroachers occupying 2,070 plots of public and government land. It also found encroachment of over 1,859 ropanis of public and government land across all 35 wards of the then Kathmandu Metropolitan City alone.
Eight years after the report was submitted, advocate Prakash Mani Sharma and others filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court in 2003, naming the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and other government agencies as respondents, seeking an order for its implementation.
On May 26, 2010, the Supreme Court issued a directive ordering the government to implement the Rawal Commission report and investigate and take action against encroachments on public and government land across the country.
