Kathmandu, July 27: The Nepali Communist Party (NCP) has demanded that the National Investigation Department (NID) not remain under the Office of the Prime Minister. Lawmakers from the NCP have registered an amendment to the related bill, proposing that the agency be placed under the Ministry of Home Affairs instead.
The government has introduced a bill to amend the Nepal Special Service Act, 1985 (2042 BS), with the aim of providing a legal basis for the intelligence agency, which has been brought under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
Most recently, the National Investigation Department, which had been operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs, was moved under the Prime Minister’s Office through the Government Rules of Business Allocation, 2083 BS.
Seeking to reverse that change, NCP Chief Whip Yubaraj Dulal and lawmaker Ganesh Bahadur Bishwakarma have registered amendment proposals to keep the intelligence agency under the Home Ministry.
Lawmaker Ganesh Bahadur Bishwakarma has proposed that the Act explicitly state that the National Investigation Department shall be established under the Ministry of Home Affairs to carry out intelligence related functions.
In his amendment proposal, Yubaraj Dulal has suggested replacing the words “Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers” with “Ministry of Home Affairs” in Section 4(1) of the Nepal Special Service Act, 1985 (2042 BS), following the phrase “for carrying out service related functions.”
In effect, the proposal seeks to remove the provision keeping the intelligence agency under the Prime Minister’s Office and instead place it under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The National Investigation Department has been shifted several times in the past between the Home Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.
Former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had amended Section 4(1) of the Nepal Special Service Act, 1985 through the Act to Amend Some Nepal Acts, 2018 (2075 BS), bringing the National Investigation Department under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Before that, the agency had operated under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Later, the interim government led by then Prime Minister Sushila Karki moved the National Investigation Department back under the Home Ministry.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen) again transferred the department from the Home Ministry to the Office of the Prime Minister through the Government Rules of Business Allocation, 2083 BS.
The current bill seeks to formally incorporate that arrangement into law.
By registering the amendment, the NCP has demanded that the intelligence agency be removed from the Prime Minister’s authority and placed under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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