DEUBA FACTION TO CONTINUE BOYCOTT OF NC CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET

DEUBA FACTION TO CONTINUE BOYCOTT OF NC CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET FRIDAY

Kathmandu, 25 Nov.: The dissatisfied faction of the Sher Bahaur Deuba group in the main opposition NC will continue its boycott of the central committee as well Friday, said Bimalendra Nidhi of the rebel camp.
There was no meeting Thursday between party President Sushil Koirala and senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba.
The central committee met barely for 20 minutes Wednesday following a boycott by the Deuba faction.
NC has to decide its position of the extension of the constituent assembly (CA)/parliament after 30 November.
The subject couldn’t be discussed Wednesday with the boycott.
Discussions in UML central committee meet also continues Friday on a four-point political report of Chairman Jhalanath Khanal.
UML also has to decide on the duration of the CA extension after formally deciding to extend the tenure after 30 November.
The three-time prime minister has resigned from the central committee following differences in the main opposition over Koirala’s handling of party affairs.
Koirala has been charged for dictatorially dissolving elected bodies of four ister organizations close to Deuba who says the party chief has no authority to sack elected office bearers.
Koirala has also been charged for not addressing dissident demands.
He issued a statement Wednesday after the open dispute to attend committee meetings and resolve differences through discussion.
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NEPAL, INDIA TALKS TO RESOLVE TRADE DIFFRENCES

Kathmandu, 25 Nov. Two-day joint secretary level Indo-Nepal talks will be held Monday to resolve bilateral trade differences.
Commerce and supply secretary Purusottam Ojha said
additional four percent customs duty of Nepali exports, additional locks on containers transporting third country imports to land-locked Nepal from ports at Kolkata/Haldiya, use of Vijagapatnam and use of railway line via Rohanpur Singh for trade with Bangladesh will be disused on priority basis.
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CAPITAL MINMUM TEMPERATRE FRIDAY 7.2 DEGREES CELSIUS________________________________________
Kathmandu, 25 Nov.: Minimum temperature recorded Friday morning was 7.2 degrees Celsius.
Maximum temperature in the day is expected to reach 22 to 24 degrees Celsius.
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GOVT. CHARGED FOR PERJURY AT SUPREME COURT
Kathmandu, 25 Nov.: The government’s perjury while replying to the Supreme Court in relation to execution of the apex court’s 21-month-old verdict on Maoist lawmaker Balkrishna Dhungel has prompted legal experts and rights defenders to call for a stronger Act to deal with perjury and crime against justice administration, Anant Raj Luitel writes in The Himalayan Times..

Rights activists and lawyers also have begun raising voices that public office bearers be held accountable when it comes to lying under oath if the state has to maintain rule of law. “The existing perjury provision is not enough; the government and parties of cases have been defying court orders and even lying in the court,” Prof Rajit Bhakta Pradhananga told THT.

The apex court yesterday in its judgment had said the government ‘lied’ to the court by saying it was working to execute the court verdict slapping 20-year jail term to Dhungel for murdering Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga back in 1998. But it came to the fore that the government, instead of making attempts to send the murder convict to jail, was doing the groundwork to seek amnesty for him.

Pradhananga said there was an urgent need to promulgate stronger Acts to deal with perjury. A panel led by Justice Kalyan Shrestha two years ago had proposed up to five years in jail to those involved in perjury and crime against justice administration. But the bills are gathering dust at Parliament.

During his tenure, former chief justice Min Bahadur Rayamajhee too had instructed sub-ordinate tribunals to deal with perjury and punish offenders, but only a few dozens were booked.

Giving false facts, reasons and fabricated written explanations in the court is related to perjury and this is considered a serious offence in many developed countries for such acts could weaken the judiciary and obstruct justice delivery. “The (existing) provisions are not sufficient,” said Shree Kanta Paudel, Spokesperson for the apex court. According to him, the provisions are not strong enough to make office bearers accountable when they don’t carry out their duty or fail to execute court orders.

Though submitting of fabricated statements is criminalised by prevailing Acts, the provisions are not strictly activated by courts. Section 169 of the Civil Code, 1963 and Section 28 of States Cases Act, 1992 have prohibited parties of cases and witnesses from providing ‘false document, information or statement to the court’. The apex court must hammer home to government authorities and powerful office bearers the fact that perjury is such a crime for which contempt of court charge can be initiated.

“New Acts are urgently required for making government and public office bearers accountable to rule of law,” said Govinda Sharma Bandi, a human rights advocate. “Those who are involved in recording false statement(s) in courts need to be punished under perjury provision and those who don’t respect the court verdict and defy it must be booked under contempt of court. Both of these have happened in Dhungel’s case.”
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MASSIVE IRREGULARITIES IN EDUCATION SECTOR
Kathmandu, 25 Nov.: It may be surprising, but the government has paid some teachers twice according to the report of Financial Comptroller General Office, which revealed that Rs 106.9 million was released from various District Education Offices for salary in the last fiscal year, The Himalayan Times reports.

Multiple release of budget is regarded as financial indiscipline, but Director General of Department Of Education Mahashram Sharma acknowledged that in the absence of integrated data on teachers, the DEOs released the budget. “We have already retrieved around 67 million rupees in the account of revenue and our investigation is continuing,” added Sharma.

Teachers are paid every four months and in advance, allowing transferred teachers to claim their salary although they were paid from the place of transfer.

DEO of Gulmi Nanda Lal Paudel said the problem lies in bulk payment made every four months. “If payments were made each month with updated teachers’ profile, multiple payment would be checked,” added Paudel.

It was found that retiring teachers are paid in advance without updated information. This speaks of DEO inefficiency on the part of DEOs.

DoE is preparing database of teachers in all 75 districts. Sharma said all the DEOs have been instructed to prepare budgeting for teachers by mid-December and submit it to the DoE. The budget will then be released on the basis of information.

Financial indiscipline is rife in the education sector that has a budget of nearly 64 billion this year.

Nearly Rs six billion has accumulated because of financial indiscipline in the school education sector. DoE is collecting proof of expenditure to prove they were legitimate spending, but there has been no move to reduce indiscipline.
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