KATHMANDU, Feb 9: Two days after the Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against 175 individuals for illegally transferring the land of Lalita Niwas in their names, the ownership of land registered in the names of Nabin Paudel and former Supreme Court (SC) Justice Kumar Regmi has been quietly transferred in the name of the government. 

Paudel is the son of ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) General Secretary Bishnu Paudel, who had chosen to keep the ownership of the land in the name of his young son. 

Officials at the Land Revenue Office in Dilli Bazar said the land ownership of Paudel and Regmi was transferred to government through their representatives on Friday. 

Chief of Dilli Bazar Land Revenue Office Gobinda Prasad Adhikari admitted that the ownership of the prime land in Baluwatar was transferred to the government. 

“The ownership of the land belonging to Paudel and Regmi in Baluwatar has come back to the ownership of the government yesterday [Friday],” he said. “A decision to this effect has been taken by the Land Revenue Office, Dilli Bazar.”

Adhikari, however, did not wish to divulge any further details about it. 

The CIAA in its charge sheet filed at the Special Court on Wednesday did not include the names of Paudel and Regmi among 175 individuals implicated in Lalita Niwas land grab case. The anti-graft body stated that cases were not filed against them as they agreed to return the land to the government during their interrogation with the CIAA.  While Paudel owned plot number 309 and 315, Regmi had a piece of land with plot number 511 in Lalita Niwas. 

The anti-graft body had suggested to the Ministry of Land Management and Poverty Alleviation in writing to bring the land ownership of Paudel and Regmi in the name of the government at the earliest possible date. 

Sources said Minister for Land Management and Poverty Alleviation Padma Kumari Aryal had personally taken interest in bringing the land ownership of Paudel and Regmi in the name of the government as per the directives of the CIAA. Aryal had directed Secretary at her ministry Surya Gautam to expedite the process. 

Senior officials at the Ministry said the officials at Dilli Bazar Land Revenue Office had transferred the land ownership of Paudel and Regmi with due urgency. 

“This was done at a great haste on Friday. There was a directive from the ministry to complete the task by Friday evening,” said an official at Dili Bazar Land Revenue Office on condition of anonymity.

 
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