JAPANESE ASSIST TO FIGHT FOOD DEFICITS Kathmandu, 15 June: Japan Thursday extended a Rs.110million grant for food aid. The grant was to transport grains amid food deficits in remote hill districts. Nnnn GOVINDA MAINALI RETURNS FROM TOKYO SATURDAY Kathmandu, 15 June: Govimda Mainali, who spent 15ears in prison in Japan for alleged murder of a Japanese woman, returns home Saturday and will settle down at his home in Sankhamul. Wife India and daughters Mithila and Elsa are accompanying him from Tokyo where a court this month ordered a review of the original verdict for the first time after World War II. Nnnn SUICIDE BY FAILED SLC CANDIDATES REACHES SEVEN Kathmandu,15 June: Seven girls have committed suicide after they failed this year’s SLC tests. Fifty-three percent students failed this year’s annual examinations. : nnnn PRESIDENT MAY AMEND STATUTE, POLL LAWS Kathmandu, 15 June: - A high-level committee led by a member of the Election Commission (EC) has concluded that amendments to various provisions of the Interim Constitution, two election-related Acts and restoration of the Constituent Assembly Elections Act by an ordinance are prerequisite to holding fresh elections, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.. The committe has also raised doubts on whether the consitution can be amended through ordinances. The panel has suggested finding common political ground and amending the constitution by using the discretionary powers of the President. The panel was formed soon after PM Baburam Bhattarai on May 27 announced fresh Constituent Assembly elections. "We reviewed all election-related provisions in the Interim Constitution and other Acts. We concluded that without first amending the constitution and some election laws, we cannot hold fresh CA polls," a member of the panel told the Post on Thursday. "We will be recommending to the government that elections are not possible without amending these laws through ordinances," the member added. The panel will soon submit a report to the PM. "Though constitutions cannot be amended through an ordinance and there is no single instance of such a thing happening across the world, we have suggested the President use his discretionary powers to remove the hurdles," a member of the panel and Joint Secretary at the EC, Madhu Regmi, told the Post. Another member of the panel said the matter is debatable and surely not a democratic process. The member added that the President can use his powers, "which again needs broad national consensus." Meanwhile, acting Chief EC Nil Kanth Uprety and some members of the EC on Thursday met President Ram Baran Yadav. They briefed the President on the constitutional and legal hiccups to holding fresh elections. Nnnn GURKHA DEVELOPMENT BANK SEEKS MORE TIME TO SET HOUSE IN ORDER Kathmandu, 15 June: Crisis-ridden Gurkha Development Bank has asked the central bank for an indefinite extension of the deadline to submit its capital plan as its three key promoters are yet to agree on their next move. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had given Gurkha until June 14 to submit its capital plan, The Kathmandu Post reports. Gurkha has written to the central bank asking for more time as it said it was attempting to forge a consensus between its three key promoters—DB Bamjan, who is serving a jail term for banking fraud, Rakesh Adukiya and Nirmal Gurung. Bamjan has a 14 percent stake in Gurkha, Adukiya 13 percent and Gurung 6 percent. Gurkha has called a meeting of the promoters on June 19 to conclude who should lead the bank. “We can submit the capital plan to NRB after the meet,” said Amod Domzone, managing director of Gurkha, adding that they were seeking a solution by ensuring a majority stake for one of the promoters while the other two would have to sell their shares to one of them. According to Domzone, Adukiya and Gurung have expressed interest to acquire a majority stake in the bank. Adukiya has proposed to purchase the promoter shares at Rs 30 per share and acquire over 50 percent of the shares in the bank. He discussed his plan with Bomjon in prison on Thursday. According to Adukiya, Bamjan agreed to cut his stake in the bank and allow Adukiya’s team to run the development bank. “My concern is that there should not be any environment for intervention from Bomjon in the bank in the future,” he said. However, as they are yet to agree on the price of the shares, whether negotiations will yield results is not certain. “As a consensus has been reached verbally, we have asked Bamjan to send his views on my proposal in writing to the Gurkha board,” said Adukiya. Regarding Gurung’s interest to acquire a majority stake in the bank, Adukiya said that there can be a solution with one party holding a majority stake. However, he said that Gurung may not dare to acquire a majority stake as he presently holds only 6 percent of the shares. According to the Gurkha management, the development bank requires around Rs 1 billon to recover its health. Adukiya said that if an agreement was reached on allowing him to control a majority stake, he would go for issuing rights shares and finding strategic partners to increase the paid-up capital to the required level. About a month ago, Gurkha’s CEO Krishna Kumar Bhattarai had resigned from his post after failing to bring the three major shareholders together to settle their differences and find a solution for the development bank. nnnn