Nepal’s new Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has instructed Chief Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi to put all the decisions taken by the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government on hold, The Kathmandu Post reports.
According to the report, the decisions taken after the election code of conduct came into force ahead of the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly polls would be closely monitored before implementation. PM Oli’s instruction puts all the decisions taken by the Deuba Cabinet after mid-October in this category. Subsequently, the Prime Minister’s Office has told ministries and government departments to put the decisions on hold.
“PM Oli has categorically instructed the chief secretary and the bureaucracy to put the decisions on hold for some time,” Minister Lalbabu Pandit told The Kathmandu Post. The PM has also ordered a comprehensive report on the Cabinet decisions taken in the last couple of months.
“The government will study all the decisions made by the caretaker government for their validity, need and legal and constitutional aspects,” Pandit said. “We’ll study all the Cabinet decisions taken during and after the elections and find out those that need to be scrapped.”
According CPN-UML leaders and high-level government officials, decisions having long-term implications and those taken without meeting the basic procedure would be scrapped. UML leaders said not all decisions would be scrapped though. A taskforce of the left alliance is also preparing to review all the decisions taken after the election code of conduct took effect.
The new Cabinet plans to scrap all the political decisions of the Nepali Congress-led caretaker government. On the recommendations made by the Deuba government for appointing three members in the National Assembly, the new government has already suggested that the President should not endorse the names. According to UML leaders, the government is likely to forward fresh names.
After the elections, the Deuba Cabinet made political appointments to Nepal Television, Gorkhapatra Sansthan, Rastriya Samachar Samiti, Film Development Board, Dairy Development Board and Nepal Family Planning Association. According to leaders, those decisions will be scrapped.
The Oli government, however, has not said anything about the decision to lower the age bar for elderly allowance to 65 years. Left alliance leaders are also silent about the decision to increase the grant for earthquake survivors to Rs 400,000 from Rs 300,000. The Deuba government declared scores of martyrs as well, attracting attention of the Maoist party that waged a decade-long insurgency and conflict victims.
The UML-CPN (Maoist Centre) alliance said weeks ago that it would review the decision to scrap the contract awarded to the China-Gezhouba Group Company to build the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower project.