UML CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET BEGINS Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: UML central committee began meeting Monday discussing a political report of Chairman Jhalanath Khanal. The party standing committee Sunday prepared a nine-point agenda for discussion. The committee is appointing six members, including former Speaker Subash Nemwang, to fillin vacancies created after defections to launch a new janajati party by Vice-chairman Ashok Rai. The meeting will review current political situation, including leadership of a consensus government now to be led by the opposition party. It previously supported the NC claim to replace the government of Prime MINister Baburam Bhattarai which must be brought down, the party said.. Nnnn / US CONTRIBUES $500,000 TO PEACE FUND Kathmandu, 10 Dec.:10 Dec.: USA is Contributing USD 500,000 to the Nepal Peace Trust Fund (NPTF), an announcement said. The contribution will fund conflict-affected communities, transitional justice, future elections, public infrastructure reconstruction, and other peace commitments. U.S. Ambassador Peter W. Bodde signed a document Monday with Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) acknowledging a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contribution to the NPTF “The U.S. Government’s partnership with the Government of Nepal in this effort further demonstrates our commitment to helping the people of Nepal realise the benefits of peace and the promise of prosperity,” Ambassador Bodde remarked at the ceremony. “We recognise the Ministry’s and the Peace Fund Secretariat’s work to implement the commitments of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord through the Fund’s programming,.” he added. USAID will support the peace process as a contributor to the Fund, the US embassy said. Nnnn JEPP ACCIDENT CLAIMS LIFE IN KAVRE Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: A person was killed overnight in a jeep accident in Kavre. Uddhav Khadka, died as he was heading for Chaubas from Dolalghat nnnn. DIGAMBAR JHA’S APPOINTMENT CHALLENGED Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: Bishwa Nath Goyal has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the appointment of Digambar Jha as the chairman of the Nepal Telecommunica-tions Authority (NTA), The Kathmandu Post reports. Goyal was among the top three candidates shortlisted for the post. On Dec 4, the government appointed Jha as the new NTA chairman based on the direct proposal presented to the Cabinet by the Minister for Information and Communications Raj Kishor Yadav. While presenting the proposal to the Cabinet, Yadav violated the norms that seek every such proposal be presented to the Cabinet through the chief secretary, sources said. Jha appointment was also controversial because he does not meet the selection criteria set in the Telecommunications Regulation. Government officials said as per the law, Goyal was the most capable among the three candidates—the third being Anil Jha—shortlisted for the post. He is the former managing director of Nepal Telecom. Goyal said Jha’s appointment ‘is against the law’ and he wants a legal description. “Since the government-appointed person is not qualified as per the rules, I filed a writ seeking a rollback of the decision,” he said. As per the regulation, an NTA chairman should at least have a bachelor’s and a 10-year experience in the related field. However, Jha, a mechanical engineer by profession, has no expertise in the telecom sector. He is the former managing director of Nepal Oil Corporation. Jha assumed his office as new NTA chairman last Thursday. The top three candidates were shortlisted from among seven candidates appearing for the interview taken by a committee formed under the coordination of Communi-cations Ministry Secretary Surya Prasad Silwal. Thirteen individuals had applied for the top NTA post. On the basis of the experience in the telecom sector, Goyal was the dominant candidate compared to the Jha duo. Anil Jha has been appointed as general manager of Janak Shikshya Samagri. The first hearing of the case is scheduled for Monday. This is the second time that a writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the NTA chairman selection procedure. Nearly four weeks ago, Rajiv Rauniyar, an applicant for the NTA chairman and board member posts, had filed a writ petition in the court seeking a stay order against the selection process. Rauniyar had said the vacancy notice was published without following the government-set rules. The court, however, rejected Rauniyar’s claims and gave a decision in favour of the selection process on Nov 22. Nnnn NEA IN NO MOOD TO IMPLEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) board is least interested in implementing recommendations put forward by the report of the Organisation and Management (O&M) survey, The Kathmandu Post writes.. The report was tabled on the NEA board some four months ago, but no discussion has taken place so far, according to NEA officials. They said the report was dumped as it talks about downsizing and merging different departments under NEA. The O&M survey was conducted as per the decision of the NEA board itself. NEA has long been criticised for its gigantic, yet unproductive staff size. Even after the write-off of its losses worth Rs 28 billion last year, the state-owned enterprise incurred a loss of Rs 8.55 billion during 2011-12. “The NEA board is least interested in discussing the report,” said Tek Nath Acharya, an NEA board member who headed the three-member survey team. NEA currently has 10 departments headed by general managers, and the report has recommended that the number of such units be reduced to eight. “Existence of separate units to carry out similar tasks will only delay work and create confusion,” says the report. “Bringing down the number of business groups to eight will reduce NEA’s annual loss by as much as Rs 5 million.” An NEA board member said the NEA management committee is pressing the board not to approve the report fearing of losing their roles in the organisation. “Managers even fear to discuss the report as they have taken it as a personal matter,” he said. More than half a million rupees was spent for the survey. The board member demanded that either a discussion on the report be held or it be terminated terming it useless. Former acting managing director of NEA, Mahendra Lal Shrestha, however, said discussions on the report were underway to initiate institutional reform at NEA. “With the appointment of a new MD, discussions on the matter will speed up,” he said. A member of the management committee said it has decided to implement the report recommendations from the beginning of the next fiscal year. “Implementation of the report and initiation institutional reforms is associated with budget,” he said. “As it will be difficult to manage funds in the mid of the fiscal year, the reform process will be initiated with the beginning of the next fiscal year.” NEA’s indifference to adopting reforms measures is reflected in the fact that despite promise, it has not submitted any of its progress reports to the Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC) so far. ETFC had approved a 20 percent hike in power tariff on an average some four months ago on condition that the NEA will initiate reforms and submit the progress report on quarterly basis. “Despite the commitment, NEA has not submitted any documents regarding controlling leakage and other reforms,” said Ganesh Prashad Subba, chairman of the commission. nnnn