Kathmandu, April 28: A meeting of the Council of Ministers made several key decisions, most notably promoting Additional Inspector General Narayan Dutta Paudel to lead the Armed Police Force. The Cabinet, which met at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, appointed him as the 13th Inspector General of the APF.
Briefing reporters on Monday’s decisions, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Sasmit Pokharel said Paudel, currently heading the Human Resources Department, will take charge on May 1, 2026. The incumbent IGP, Raju Aryal, will retire a day earlier on April 30 after completing his four-year tenure.
Paudel had long been the frontrunner for the top post. He joined the Nepal Police as an Inspector on March 31, 1998, and later transitioned to the Armed Police Force. Other contenders included AIG Banshi Dahal from the Border Department and AIG Ganesh Thada Magar from the Operations Department, though both were junior to Paudel.
He rose to the rank of AIG on May 20, 2022, following Aryal’s elevation to IGP. Dahal, seen as the second-strongest candidate, was promoted to AIG about five months later on October 14, 2022, after the government created an additional AIG position in the Border Security Department to accommodate him. Thada Magar, meanwhile, entered the AIG rank much later on June 16, 2025, and is also two years junior in service, having joined as an Inspector in 2000.
Paudel is set to lead the force until March 31, 2028, when he will retire upon reaching the 30-year service limit. His career has followed a steady climb through the ranks: Acting DSP in 2001, permanent DSP in 2002, SP in 2007, SSP in 2013, DIG in 2018, and AIG in 2022.
Beyond the security reshuffle, the Cabinet also decided to allow the Security Printing Centre to engage in commercial activities in competition with the private sector. The government will publish a formal notice of this decision in the Nepal Gazette. It also approved the Customs Regulations-2083 proposed by the Ministry of Finance, updating the country’s customs framework.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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