Kathmandu, Aug 4: Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal has been accused by a parliamentary special probe committee of preventing government staff, including PMO Secretary Phanindra Gautam, from signing their statements related to the cooling-off period controversy.
The committee had summoned the officials on Sunday to authenticate their earlier statements with signatures. However, none of them appeared. “Secretary Gautam informed us that he wouldn’t attend as per the Chief Secretary’s instructions,” a committee member informed. “We believe the Chief Secretary also stopped the others.”
The committee, formed on July 7, had earlier questioned Chief Secretary Aryal, Secretary Gautam, Parliament Secretariat Secretary-General Padma Prasad Pandey, and officials from the Ministry of Federal Affairs, Ministry of Law, and State Affairs Committee.
The statements needed validation to confirm the facts about how the “cooling-off” clause — which bars civil servants from new appointments for two years post-retirement or resignation — was altered. Though agreed upon in the State Affairs Committee, the bill passed by the House rendered the provision ineffective, prompting the investigation.
“The refusal to sign supports our suspicion that top officials lobbied to remove the cooling-off period,” said a member of the committee, which sees this act as a serious obstruction.
Opposition parties — CPN (Maoist Centre), RSP, and RPP — demanded Chief Secretary Aryal be named in the final report. However, ruling parties UML and Nepali Congress resisted, resulting in late-night disputes. With no consensus, the report writing continued Monday morning.
The final report is scheduled to be tabled in today’s 1 PM House meeting, according to committee chair Jeevan Pariyar. The committee’s initial 21-day mandate was extended by a week, which expired on August 2.
Members of the committee include Jeevan Pariyar and Sushila Thing (Nepali Congress), Ishwari Gharti and Narayan Prasad Acharya (UML), Madhav Sapkota (Maoist Centre), Ganesh Parajuli (RSP), and Roshan Karki (RPP).
People’s News Monitoring Service
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