KATHMANDU'S MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WEDNESDAY MORNING 5 DEGREES CELSIUS

MINIMUM TEMPERATURE IN CAPITAL WEDNESDAY MORNING FIVE DEGREES CELSIUS
Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: Minimum temperature in the capital Wednesday morning was five degrees Celsius.
The mercury is expected to rise to 16/18 degrees Celsius.
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NTB HAS NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: Five persons from the private sector were appointed board members Tuesday of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) by the ministry of tourism.
Pampha Dhamala, Phul Gyalgen Sherpa, Tika Ram Sapkota, Sundar Lal Kakshapati and Amar Bahadur Shahi are the new members.
Their tenure is for three years and were elected by a three-member board.
Other members of the board are from government.
The new board meets Wednesday.
NTB Chief Executive and Member-Secretary Prachanda Man Shrestha retired 31 October 2011.
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NEW COMPANY GETS PERMISSION TO START
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS

Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: A new company has received permission to start international flights through a ministerial decision of the
tourism and civil aviation ministry, Nagarik reports.
BB Airways got permission to start flights to New Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Doha and Singapore from Kathmand by acquiring three 250-seater 767s.
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SUPREME COURT SAYS STRIKE BY PETROLEUM
DEALERS ILLEGAL
Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: In what could bring some relief to the consumers facing chronic fuel
crisis, the Supreme Court has directed the government to stop the suppliers of petroleum
products from staging any protest that could disrupt the supply and distribution of essential fuel. The court also said Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association's announcement on December 22 to close all its petrol pumps demanding more commission is illegal,
Pranab Kharel writes in The Kathmandu Post.
The court ruled that the law has prohibited all kinds of strikes in the area of essential services, including in the supply and distribution of petroleum products. The court drew upon the Essential Services Act that has placed petroleum products' distribution, storage and transportation under essential services.
The interim order issued by a single bench of Justice Kalyan Shrestha also states that resorting to shutdown, lockout or similar forms of protests in the area of essential services would be in breach of the Consumer Protection Act, 1998.
It is the government's responsibility, the court said, to enforce the laws and ensure unhindered supply, sale and distribution of petroleum products.
The order also calls on the government-controlled and public sector-run petrol pumps such as those of Sajha and Salt Trading Corporation to ensure that they keep their pumps open during crisis.
Any violation of the court order and the laws should face immediate action, the court said.
The court order was in response to a writ petition filed on Sunday by advocates Achut Raj Budhatoki, Gaj Bahadur Airi and Jagannath Mishra of Consumer Rights Protection Forum. The writ sought a stay order against the move of the Petroleum Dealers Association, Association of LP Gas, and Federation of Gas Dealers to call a shutdown and lockout issuing a press release on December 22. They have been shutting down their pumps for an hour everyday since January 1, and have warned of fully shutting down their pumps until the government provides them with more commission, among other things.
The petition had also demanded that the report of high-level commission on improvement in the Nepal Oil Corporation be implemented to allow a smooth supply of petroleum products.
The writ had also called for scrapping of licenses of those dealers or petrol pumps that act against the interest of the consumers. The petitioner had also called for making available Rs 2.5 billion as decided by the government.
The writ had called for ensuring the interest of the country when the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) enters into agreement with its Indian counterpart by March 2012. The defendants include Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Ministry of Finance, Board of Directors NOC, NOC and the supplier's associations.
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FINAL HEARING ON SUDAN SCAM BEGINS
Kathmandu, 4 Jan.:- The Special Court has begun its final hearing on the high-profile multimillion-dollar Sudan scam involving 34 police officials, including three former police chiefs and two suppliers, on charge of embezzling millions of rupees allocated for the purchase of Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) for the Nepal Police's peacekeeping mission in Sudan, Bhadra Sharma writes in .The Kathmandu Post.
On Tuesday, the government attorneys presented the case on behalf of the government. “They [government attorneys] have not yet completed their arguments. The lawyers from the defendant side will be allowed to defend the case after the prosecutors complete their arguments,” said Court Registrar Dhir Bahadur Chanda. The lawyers representing the defendants will have an opportunity to present their arguments individually.
The government attorneys will be given additional chance to refute the defendants' arguments. “If all goes as planned, the court may issue a verdict within two weeks. But much will depend on the number of lawyers appointed by the defendants,” added Chanda. After both sides complete their arguments, a full bench of the court led by Chairman Gauri Bahadur Karki will issue the final verdict.
Before conducting final hearings on the scam, the court had conducted preliminary hearings and recorded statements from both the prosecutors and the defendants.
Eight months ago, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed a case against the accused in the Special Court, alleging 34 police officials and two suppliers of embezzling around Rs 290 million of the total Rs 445 million earmarked for APCs in 2007.
The charge sheet filed in the court has mentioned that police officials and two suppliers, Michael Rider of the London-based Assured Risk P Ltd and his local agent, Shambhu Bharati, who is also the director of Bhagwati Traders, embezzled the money by influencing political and bureaucratic classes. Former Nepal Police chiefs Om Bikram Rana, Hem Bahadur Gurung, Ramesh Chanda Thakuri, suppliers Rider and Bharati, among others, are named as the main defendants in the case.
Thirty-four police officials and Bharati have appointed four to six lawyers from their side on individual basis. But Rider has neither appointed a lawyer to defend the case nor recorded his statement in the court.
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PARTIES DIFFER ON REVISING WORK SCHEDULE OF CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

Kathmandu, 4 Jan.:: The Nepali Congress today proposed revision of Constituent Assembly work schedule after a meeting of the top leaders of major political parties failed to forge consensus on forms of governance to be adopted in the
new constitution, Prakash Acharya writes in The Himalayan Times.

Stating that governance system is a fundamental issue of the new constitution and is directly linked with the restructuring of the state, NC proposed that the parties should take more time to arrive at consensus. As the State Restructuring Commission has nearly one month to submit its report, the parties can settle the issues related to forms of governance by then after holding discussions, sources quoted NC leaders as saying at today’s three-party meeting.

“We can settle all other issues as per CA’s work schedule but those related to forms of governance. So, we can put this issue on hold and settle it later once SRC submits its report,” said NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula.

As per CA work plan, the Constitutional Committee, which is mandated to prepare the first draft of the new constitution, has to settle all the disputed issues, except federalism, by tomorrow.

The issues settled by the CC can be directly included in the first draft of the constitution and unsettled ones should be forwarded to CA full house. The CC should table the unsettled issues on Thursday as per CA’s calendar.

According to sources, Unified CPN-Maoist and CPN-UML initially refused to buy the NC’s idea of revising the calendar. “CA’s work plan revision is not a good idea,” said Maoist leader Dev Gurung. “A three-party meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon will decide whether to revise the CA schedule,” said UML leader Bhim Rawal.

NC leader Sitaula said if a major issue was put to vote without forging consensus among parties, they will stick to their stances during the voting, which could ultimately spoil the process of writing the constitution. The UCPN-M and UML are near on the proposed semi-presidential model — a directly elected President and prime minister chosen by Parliament on a majority basis with the prime minister vested with more state powers, but NC has proposed an indirectly-elected President through electoral colleges and electing the PM by Parliament on a majority basis.
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HSEB OFFICES’ EMBEZZLED RS.9.4 MILLIION
Kathmandu, 4 Jan.:: It has come to light that seven regional offices of Higher Secondary Education Board have embezzled around Rs 9.4 million the last fiscal, Rudra .Rangeni writes in The Himalayan Times

Among them, Biratnagar regional office expenditure exceeded the budget ceiling by Rs 5.956 million, without approval.

Interestingly, HSEB council had proposed the estimates of each regional office at the HSEB apex assembly yesterday for approval, whereas, assembly members slammed the prevailing irregularity and demanded investigation.

Speaking at the assembly, member Bauwalal Shah demanded reimbursement from the involved party for illegal expenditure.

Likewise, Nepalgunj office overspent Rs 9.8 million whereas Janakpur office exceeded Rs 9.3 Lakhs. However, the assembly did not address Shah’s demand for forming a probe committee. Rather a committee was formed to correct the proposed budget document to make it error-free.

Other regional offices — Hetauda, Kathmandu, Dhangadi, Pokhara have misappropriated Rs 8.4 lakh, Rs 4.8 lakh, Rs 1.4 lakh and Rs 29,925 respectively.

Hari Sharan Wagle was chief of Biratnagar regional office last fiscal. Likewise, Dhanapati Bhetwal headed the Nepalgunj office and Prakash Kafle was chief in Janakpur. Hetauda office chief was Gobinda Khaniya.

Asked about the prospects of getting back the money, HSEB vice-chairman pledged that HSEB would get the amount reimbursed from the concerned heads of regional offices.

In the assembly, Community Higher Secondary School Teachers Union Dilli Sigdel charged HSEB officials of stealing the money collected from students for registration and examination forms.

HSEB has proposed to collect Rs 484 million from students from forms this fiscal The amount is more than half of HSEB’s total annual budget. HSEB has done nothing except conduct examination and publish results of grades 11 and 12.
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