NSC HONOURS DEEPAK MAHARJAN

Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: National Sports Council NSC) has awarded Rs 300,000 inn cash and promised a job for Deepak Majarjan who lifted a bronze in the just concluded 16th ASIAD in China.
He collected the medal in the 81kg boxing weight category.
He’s the sole Nepali participant is the Asian sports jamboree t collect a medal.
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INTEGRITY OF SC JUDGE QUESTIONED
Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: Minister for Law and Justice Prem Bahadur Singh on Friday questioned the integrity of the Supreme Court (SC) Justice Bal Ram KC-led probe committee and its report (on a controversial verdict) which it has submitted to the Judicial Council (JC), The Kathmandu Post reports..

The committee has recommended the JC take action against SC judge Rana Bahadur Bam, Biratnagar Appellate Court judge Hari Bahadur Basnet and Hetauda Appellate Court judge Tej Bahadur Karki for releasing three persons charged with murder and abduction.

Minister Singh said the committee overstepped its jurisdiction by investigating into the involvement of other judges when it was assigned to investigate only into charges against Justice Karki.

“The committee was not asked to investigate into bank accounts of other judges, their property or family members,” said Minister Singh talking to media persons after the JC meeting on Friday.

He said the JC will take action against the judges only if they are found guilty.

He argued that the report has tried to prove that the judgement in question was illegal whereas it was in line with concerned laws. “The meeting is deferred till coming Friday,” said Chief Justice Ram Prasad Shrestha, who leads the JC. Sources said the JC meeting stalled after the members stood divided on the credibility of the report.

The Justice KC committee has charged Justices Bam and Basnet with releasing three murder-accused men on a petty bail of Rs. 100,000, overruling the order of the Kathmandu District Court which had sentenced them to three years in prison and slapped Rs. 22,000 fine each. The same convicts were later found to have been involved in the abduction of Chitwan-based Dr. Bhaktaman Shrestha. During the court’s hearing, they had claimed that they spent Rs. 7 million to bribe the police and the judiciary to evade jail.
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MRPs FROM 24 DECEMBER.

Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will start collecting forms from the aspirants for the issuance of smart passports from mid-December, The Himalayan Times reports.

Though with a delay, France-based Oberthur Technologies that was selected to print and supply the MRP has supplied 40,000 booklets to MoFA by now.

Nepal missed two previous deadlines to embrace the smart passport owing to differences among top officials over the deal to print and supply it. Upon the government’s request, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had extended the deadline to January 1, 2011 upon the government’s request.

After this date, MoFA cannot distribute the hand-written passport currently in use.
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NOC LOSS SOARS
Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) is set to suffer loss of as much as Rs 427.70 million in December as the sole Indian supplier of oil to Nepal jacked up export rates, citing rising crude prices, Repuvlica reports.

“This is a major blow for us, particularly given that we have been consistently suffering loss over the last few months,” said Digamhbar Jha, managing director the state-owned petroleum monopolist.

The new import rates for Nepal that Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) issued to NOC on December 1 suggest that the corporation will suffer a loss of Rs 4.80 on a liter of diesel and 24 paisa on a liter of petrol, if the government did not raise the retail prices.

Previously, it was suffering a loss of Rs 2.75 on a liter of diesel and earning a profit of Rs 3 per liter of petrol.

“The new rates have also raised the loss on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Rs 256 per cylinder (of 14.2 kg),” Jha said, adding, “This will straightaway inflict us a loss of Rs 270 million on LPG alone in December.”

Owing to faulty subsidy on LPG, the popular urban cooking fuel, NOC has already suffered a net loss of Rs 350 million on it over the last three months.

IOC´s new rates have also shrunk NOC´s profit on aviation fuel to Rs 11 per liter and on kerosene to Rs 4.80 per liter. Previously, it was earning a profit of about Rs 14 per liter on aviation fuel and Rs 6 on a liter of kerosene.

Jha said the loss jumped so sharply because the recent decision of the government to double roads maintenance fee alone will increase its financial burden by Rs 200 million every month.

NOC has indicated that the loss could impact supplies. But to avoid such a situation, it has started knocking doors of the government to either raise the retail rates or pledge it loans.

“We can´t manage the impact the loss will have on our import and inventory management. We seriously need concrete decision of the government,” Jha added.

NOC has already informed its situation to the government via Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, elaborating the adverse impact the apathy would have on supplies. It has recommended the government to let it increase the prices of petrol and LPG and hike the prices of diesel moderately.

It has further cautioned that its total inventory of fuel has dropped to around 26,000 KL, as it curtailed imports because of loss over the last three months. Unless the government dealt with the situation sensitively, the supply will be hit, it has cited.

In mid-July, NOC had said its total stock was well over 40,000 KL.

“We could not import adequate volume of fuel in November as well because of loss, which stood at around Rs 70 million,” NOC has said in its report. In December it estimates to face a cash shortfall of Rs 220 million to maintain normal imports.

“This will obviously force us to cut imports,” said Jha, adding that if shortage hit the market, it will be government´s fault and not the NOC´s.
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