NEPAL, INDIA TRADE,ECONOMY, DEVELOPMENT ISSUE TAL;KS MONDAY

NEPAL-INDIA TALKS MONDAY

Kathmandu, 5 Dec.; Two-day inter-governmental committee (IGC) begin in New Delhi later Monday.
Commerce Secretary Purusottam Ojha is leading the Nepali team to the meet held once every six months.
The IGC met in Kathmandu last year.
The body will discuss, trade, economic aad development issues between the two South Asian nations.
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SUPREME COURT STAYS GOVERNMENT TO DEMOLISH STRUCTURES THIS WEEK
Kathmandu, 5 Dec.: Supreme court Sunday stayed a government decision to demolish illegal structures constructed on government land along Bagmati river at Thapathali this week.
A single bench of Girish Chandra Lal of the the apex court summoned the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works and Kathmandu Metropolitan City to attend the next hearing on a complaint Wednesday.
Leaders of the Big Three and a front of Madeshbadi parties Tuesday had endorsed the government decision to demolish the structures.
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NA SCRAPS BISCUIT, MILK ACQUISION CONTRACT
Kathmandu, 5 Dec.:: The Nepal Army (NA) has finally decided to scrap the deal for purchasing biscuits and milk worth Rs 550 million directly from the supplier as it violates the Public Procurement Act and decided to buy through a competitive bidding, Govinda Pariyar reports in Republica.
Army Chief Chhatraman Singh Gurung called an emergency meeting of the Principal Staff Officers (PSO) on Sunday and took the decision to buy the goods through open bidding by canceling the previous process.

According to sources at the army headquarters, the NA decision will be formally finalized after a meeting with the ministry of defense on Monday. The NA officials have also planned to consult Public Procurement Monitoring Office on Monday. The open bidding process will begin with the formal cancellation of the direct procurement process.

PSO meetings are often called by the army chief if the national army has to take a crucial policy decision.

"I want to conduct every transaction in a transparent manner. We need to cancel this direct-buying process and buy the goods through competitive bidding," a general quoted Gurung as saying at the meeting.

The army chief repeatedly emphasized the need for buying goods through competitive process. Then, Narendra Rawal, director of NA´s Quarter Master General´s Office, clarified that they just abided by the decision of the ministry of defense that prepared all the documents for the purpose and forwarded it to the NA and ordered the army officials to buy the goods directly from the supplier.

Some of the generals expressed serious concerns over the procurement controversy as it is likely to tarnish the army´s image. "Many generals at the meeting questioned why the NA that never failed to follow the legal procedures in the past worked under political pressure this time around," said a general.

The NA department had forwarded the proposal to procure milk from Hetauda Dairy and biscuits from Pashupati Biscuit Pvt Ltd to the army chief´s secretariat for approval last week.

Lieutenant generals Gaurav Shamsher Rana, Nepal Bhusan Chand, Major generals BA Kumar Sharma, Daman Ghale, Dambar Gurung, Ram Gurung, Netra Bahadur Thapa, Narendra Rawal, Nar Bahadur Kadel and Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri, among other department chiefs, were present at the meeting.
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PRESSURE ON GOVT, TO NENEW OHCHR-N TENURE

KATHMANDU, 5 Dec.: The government is under pressure from the opposition parties and the National Human Rights Commission to review its position on OHCHR-N term extension, Kiran Chapagain writes in Republica.

The opposition parties -- the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML - at a meeting at Gokarna on Sunday exerted pressure on the ruling UCPN (Maoist) to renew the term of the UN human rights office.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayankaji Shrestha on Thursday had communicated to OHCHR-N that the government would not renew its term after December 8, when its current term expires.

"We asked the government to not terminate the OHCHR-N term," said Nepali Congress leader Ram Sharan Mahat, "We strongly feel OHCHR-N´s mandate should be continued until the next election.”

Mahat said OHCHR-N´s mandate has not yet been completed and its presence is necessary to address impunity in the country.

At the meeting, the CPN-UML also opposed termination of OHCHR-N term and insisted any decision on the renewal of its term be taken only after consulting the UN rights body.

“The OHCHR-N is not here for an indefinite period. But the decision on termination of its term should be taken after consultation with the rights body,” said CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal.

In response, UCPN (Maoist) leaders said at the meeting that the UN human rights office is no longer needed in the "changed context". According to Mahat, Minister Shrestha told the meeting that the OHCHR-N term should not be renewed but should be given six more months to close down operations.

But Shrestha was not available for comments. His personal secretary said Shrestha would be at a meeting till late Sunday evening.

Following pressure from the opposition, the meeting concluded that the OHCHR-N´s future should be determined only after holding consultations with the UN rights body.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has suggested to the government to renew the OHCHR term for one more year on the condition that the UN human rights office works with it in collaboration.

"The OHCHR-N should give a plan of action for a year and the government should renew OHCHR-N mandate for a year," said NHRC Commissioner and Spokesperson Gauri Pradhan.

The constitutional human rights watchdog wrote a letter to the government to this effect on Friday surprising many. In the past, NHRC had stood against continuation of the mandate of the UN human rights office and had even written to the government not to extend the term.

"We had maintained in the past that OHCHR-N should work in collaboration with the NHRC but OHCHR-N was not doing so. But, in the meantime, we signed a memorandum of collaboration and the OHCHR-N is working accordingly," said Pradhan.
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