Property, documents of district bodies will be handed over to local, provincial bodies

KATHMANDU, April 12: A process of transferring power, property and documents of the district bodies that have become irrelevant with the implementation of federalism to respective municipalities and village councils has formally begun from Tuesday. 

As per the Local Government Operation Act 2074, many district offices including those related to health, building construction, technical, forests, irrigation, land conservation and drinking water, among others that were in operation under the centralized system will be automatically federated; and the property, responsibility and budget of those offices will be transferred to municipalities and village councils and provincial bodies based on their jurisdiction from April 11. 

“You can say that the process of federating district offices that were established under the centralized system has begun from Wednesday. The transfer of authority, property and relevant documents cannot be done overnight but a certain administrative process has to be followed. So, it will take some time,” spokesperson at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration Rudra Singh Tamang said. 

According to him, the ministry has formed a five-member sub-committee each in all districts to carry out the process of transfer of power, property and relevant documents of the district bodies to municipalities or village councils and provincial bodies. 

“The sub-committee has been mandated to decide which district body will be replaced by municipalities or village councils and provincial bodies and also fix a time frame for the completion of transfer of power, property and documents,” he added. 

Chief of District Coordination Committee has been appointed as coordinator of the sub-committee while chiefs of respective district offices which will be dissolved into provincial and local bodies and the District Treasury Controller Office and officers of the District Administration Office and District Coordinator officer have been appointed as members of the sub-committee. 

According to the ministry, around two dozen district-level offices will be dissolved and their property and documents will be transferred to either local bodies or provincial bodies.

Since each district has several municipal or village council bodies, the sub-committee has been asked to ensure balanced and justified distribution of the property and resources. All the properties including vehicles, heavy equipment, computers and printers, among other things will have to be distributed to the local bodies.  

Similarly, the ministry is also making plans to deploy government officials of the district bodies that is being dissolved to local and provincial bodies. According to the ministry, the officials will be integrated to the local level. 

 
• dissolving
 
• district
 
• bodies