KATHMANDU, Jan 8: Despite receiving hundreds of corruption and irregularities complaints, the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives has yet to address a single one of them.
A total of 58 complaints were filed with the committee between August 30, 2023, and December 22, 2024, with 34 currently under review. The committee’s failure to address any of the 92 complaints has raised concerns about its commitment to good governance.
Complaints left unaddressed for a year have become pointless. Despite Monday’s committee meeting, a plan to address the complaint remained unresolved. To avoid dealing with the complaint, the committee members diverted attention by focusing on issues within their authority. Following the discussion, Ramhari Khatiwada, the committee chairman, stated that a subcommittee would be created to address and classify complaints by their area of responsibility.
CPN (UML) parliamentarians had said that the committee should not take complaints outside its scope of work. Some Nepali Congress (NC) lawmakers were of the opinion that all complaints received by the committee should be given importance, while some said that only complaints falling within the scope of work of the committee should be taken. Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, who was present at the committee, also said that if complaints are received by the committee, they should be addressed.
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Home Minister Lekhak said that the people's representative body cannot be impartial on the complaints of the people, but rather they should discuss the complaints. Dilendra Prasad Badu of the NC also said that if complaints are received, they should be discussed. "Complaints arise because there is no other way to address them, so they should not be ignored," he said. However, Hridayram Thani of the NC, however, said that the committee cannot study all complaints and should only take complaints within its jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, UML lawmaker Raghuji Pant said that the committee should not take all complaints, but only those complaints within its jurisdiction. UML's Krishna Gopal Shrestha said that the committee should discuss only those complaints that come within its jurisdiction. UML's Rajendra Rai also objected, saying that the committee took all the complaints without even studying them.
The committee provided a complaint on Monday, among others, from Shyam Lal Gyawali, the former Additional Inspector General of Police, who had secured his position through forgery as he had omitted his citizenship details as he did not mention the accurate date of his birth during recruitment. He filed the complaint on November 17, 2023, and retired September 10, 2024.
Similarly, investigations and action are demanded regarding the questionable ages stated in citizenship applications and forged educational certificates of former military officers. On November 22, 2023, a complaint questioned the authenticity of Nepal Army Chief Ashok Sigdel’s age, as documented in his citizenship and educational certificates, while he was a senior officer. He assumed the role of Chief of Army Staff on August 28, 2024. There’s another complaint about the age he gave on his citizenship papers.
Complaints to the committee also included issues with renewing permits for crushers, sand and mining industries, and resolving related problems. Meanwhile, a complaint filed on January 1, 2024, called for the immediate dismissal of Monica Bhattarai Adhikari, Vice-Chairperson of the Social Welfare Council, under Section 16 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
She is also the daughter-in-law of former Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens Uma Adhikari, and was accused of obtaining a US green card, but she resigned on January 29, 2024. Similarly, a complaint was filed on January 9, 2024, demanding an investigation into the dual citizenship issues of Padma Prasad Pandey, General Secretary of the Federal Parliament. A complaint was filed on January 17, 2024, demanding an investigation into Nepal Television, under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which is on the verge of being shut down due to extreme corruption.
On January 23, 2024, while he was still a member of the State Committee, a complaint was filed asking for an investigation into the cooperative fraud case of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane, and another complaint on February 12, 2024, demanded action against those who defrauded cooperative deposits. All these complaints were registered by the committee.
Similarly, in a complaint which the State Committee did not register, a petition to remove the Deputy Speaker for abusing their office was filed. A July 16, 2024 complaint alleged Deputy Speaker Indira Rana misused her position by writing a letter facilitating a US trip for five individuals.
