All chief justices after 1990 are taking more facilities than they are entitled by the law. All chief justices from Biswonath Upadhyaya to the recently retired Mohan Prasad Sharma, who is to be retired in a couple of days time, are taking the vehicle facility against the law.

According to reports, chief justice Sharma is using three more cars in addition to one official Mercedes Benz. According to the regulation any chief justice is entitled to only one vehicle.

Similarly, former chief justice and the chairman of the constitution reforms committee, which made the present constitution, Biswonath Upadhyaya is still using the vehicular facility of that of the incumbent justices of the Supreme Court. He is using a Toyota Corolla, with private registration number. The car is being privided by the government along with a driver. In this regard advocate  Bharat Raj Uprety says this is against the concept of an independent judiciary. He says, the government has not forgotten his favour to the government on the decision of Bhadra 12, 2052. That day the Supreme Court had decided with a split vote to uphold former Prime Minister  Girija Prasad Koirala’s recommendation for a mid-term poll.

Likewise, Surendra Prasad Singh, who succeeded Upadhyaya is still using a Maruti car with the government registration number. Singh had retired almost three years ago, on Falgun 3, 2053.

The other two chief justices, Trilok Pratap Rana and Om Bhakta Shrestha, are also still using government vehicles.

According to the regulation, the chief justices should return the official vehicles by the 7th day of their retirement.

Again, it is not only the judges of the Supreme Court, former registrar of the Supreme Court and presently the chief commissioner of the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Madhav Dutta Bhatta has still not returned a motorcycle he has taken from the Supreme Court when he was the registrar. This is even mentioned the annual report of the Commission itself.

Likewise, the acting registrar of the Supreme Court Nirmal Kumar Dhungana has taken a RX 100 motorcycle, in addition to an official car. Likewise former registrar of the highest court, Badri Kumar Basnet is still using a Kawasaki Bajaj outside the official facility he is entitled. He is currently the judge of the Appellate Court in Baglung.

Meanwhile, the registrar’s office of the Supreme Court has written to those who are still using the official vehicles contrary to the regulation. Spokesman of the Supreme Court Kashi Raj Dahal says some vehicles now been returned, and they are pursuing for the others.

(Nepal Samacharpatra, December 12, Sunday)

Because of the inefficiency of the privatisation cell at the Finance Ministry and the lack of vision of the government representatives, the privatisation process of the Butwal Power Company has been cancelled at the last moment last week. The privatisation process of the Company was started nearly one year ago. The cancellation of the biggest company in the country is a big setback to the whole process of privatisation. This incident has simultaneously bared open the weakness of the privatisation cell of the Ministry and also the Adam Smith Institute.

A source at the Ministry says the privatisation cell needs even a single person who is capable. This consultancy of the Adam Smith Institute has also failed. Similarly, the privatisation of the Tea Development Corporation, also under the consultancy of the Adam Smith Institute, has also been a cul de sac.

Meanwhile, a recent report says there has been significant successes of the privatisation the process. The Public Enterprises, which were encompassed by the report, were privatised under the consultancy of an American firm.

According to the evaluation, 75 per cent of the shares of the Butwal Power Company, which has a sound financial and instrastructural base, were valued at Rs. 840 million. But due to the Privatisation Cell of the Ministry, the bidders failed to evalute the value of the shares at that amount.

Intercraft, one of the bidders, bid for Rs. 740 million and, according to the proposal submitted by it, 70 per cent of the amount would be paid immediately, while the remaining 30 per cent will be paid within two years under a bank guarantee.

Similarly, IPC had bid for Rs. 670 million, and 10 per cent of the amount would be paid immediately, while the remaining 90 per cent would be paid in seven years time with loans from the banks.

In its rejected bid, the Interacraft had said that it would buy the company in Rs. 840 million if there is a guarantee of Rs. 3.30 PPA or there is an consent for electricity distribution in 10 districts. The Ministry had asked Intercraft to increase its value by Rs. 100 million to its last proposal.

According to experts, if there was an auction, the amount could have reached to Rs. 1 billion.

When the privatisation process  got weakened, the bidders began pressurising through the power centres. The representatives of both the bidders are well-known business persons.

Not only the Norwegian Embassy in Nepal wrote pressing letter in favour of the Norwegian company, Intercraft, and the British Embassy in Nepal did the same in favour of  IPC, a British company, the local representatives of the companies also called their respective ministers here to pressurise the government here.

When the Finance Ministry could not be bear the pressure of the donor countries, it cancelled the whole pressure. The decision which came only two days after the IPC withdrew its proposal, clearly indicates outside pressure.

(Deshantar, December 12, Sunday)

Nepal’s deputy chief of mission in Belgium Jagadish Aryal has still not been found. According to sources he went missing six days ago. His relatives and the Nepalese embassy in Brussels itself is looking for him, but to no avail. His disappearance has led to serious doubt about his whereabouts and safety.

(Deshantar, December 12, Sunday)

At a time when the government had taken some unpopular decisions to strengthen the economy of the country, people have given mandate to the government in the by-election of Jhapa and Morang. They have ratified the decisions taken by the government as the decision taken in favour of the nation. The victories of the Nepali Congress candidates in Jhapa and Morang shows that the government is popular among the people.

(Asan Bazar, Saturday, Dec. 11)

Commerce Minister Ram Krishna Tamrakar said he had invited billionaire Bill Gates to visit Nepal when he met him during the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle. Bill Gates himself informed Minister Tamrakar that his father had shown interest in visiting Nepal a couple of months back.

(Gatibidhi, Saturday, Dec. 11)

It is because of the tough attitude of the government, the Maoist party has changed some of its basic strategies. Last week, police arrested a labourer named Dinesh Sharma suspecting him of being involved in the Maoists movement. No importance was given to Sharma’s arrest. But not only the police but also the public were surprised when no less than the Maoist leader Prachand called for his release by issuing a statement.

The Maoists party has not given any party status to living party workers in the past, except two persons. Dinesh Sharma is the third person. Prior to this, party status of General Secretary Puspa Kamal Dahal and Polit Bureau member Babu Ram Bhattarai had been made public.

(Gatibidhi, Saturday, Dec. 11)

Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has registered Prakash Koirala’s name in the list of prime minister’s candidates.

Though he is from Koirala family, he is intellectually close to a person like the former Panchayati Prime Minister Marich Man Singh. He has the guts to oppose India in spite of the money and facility he gets from the deep love of Indian people for his daughter Manisha Koirala, who is a top actress in Mumbai. Despite his protest against former prime minister Koirala, he gets support from him also. He blames Khum Bahadur Khada as Mafia agent, Khum Bahadur does his best to support him. Prime Minister Bhattarai, who is against Koiralas, has also been impressed by him. It is because of this, the government has now shifted from Singhdurbar to Rautahat. He does not need to say a word. He does not need to spend. Which other person is such a lucky MP? He was MP in the past too. But, neither did he spoke in the parliament nor he visited his constituency.

Possibly, he will do the same thing this time too. But he can afford to do this because he is the son of B.P. and also because, he is the nephew of Girija Prasad Koirala.

Prakash Koirala has won the election even before the first vote was cast. He will be honoured by many medals within a couple of days. It is a tradition of Nepalese politics. Nobody likes remembering his role during the people’s movement period. What contribution has he made for bringing democracy?

Nobody knows how may villages have been visited by him. But, presently, he has been presented to disrespect Girija Prasad Koirala.

(Gatibidhi, Saturday, Dec. 11)

Nepal Communist Party (ML) organised a mass meeting Friday in the capital and announced the beginning of its street protests. The ML, which does not hold even a single seat in the House of Representatives, however is divided on the programme of launching street protests.

Bamdev Gautam, General Secretary of ML, said there were no alternatives except launching protest programmes. ML also strongly condemned the government for not considering its 32-points demand presented to the government last month.

(Saptahik Janasatta, Saturday, Dec. 11)

Home Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka has started misusing the special funds of the Home Ministry. In the past, the money was distributed to intellectuals, teachers and university teachers for various causes. This time, the money which is estimated to be about Rs. 7 million, has been distributed in the name of Maoists victims to the workers of his own constituency.

(Saptahik Janasatta, Saturday, Dec. 11)

The special session of the parliament being called by His Majesty the King at the request of the main opposition party the CPN (UML) does not look like it will be beneficial to the UML as it had been expected.

It seems that the UML has lost the seats it had won in Rautahat-4 and Jhapa-6. The seat in Rautahat had been won by Madhav Kumar Nepal and the one in Jhapa by Khadga Prasad Oli. (It has lost also in Morang).

The UML had submitted the proposal for the special session to discuss on the price hike. This move was made to give a fatal blow to what they felt was a divided Nepali Congress government.

But the Nepali Congress MPs seem united to defeat the UML’s move. However, Nepali Congress MPs themselves do not seem satisfied from Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai’s working style.

So, possibly, after the special session of the parliament, Prime Minister Bhattarai might be changed. A homework regarding this has already been initiated.

(Saptahik Janasatta, Saturday, Dec. 11)