SUPREME COURR LIKELY TO ANNOUNCE VERDICT ON LOKMAN SINGH KARKI APPOINTMENT MONDAY Kathmandu, 29 April: Judge on a writ asking the supreme court to issue an order stop top the appointment of Lokman Singh Karki as CIAA Chairman by government of recommendation of Maoists in a high-powered body of three parties and a Madeshi coalition. All parties first agreed to appointment of Karki but NC and UML later renegaded. Karki’s lawyers presented their arguments for his appointment at the apex court Sunday. Another round of hearing of being conducted Monday. Karki’s critics agrue he shouldn’t be appointed CIAA chief because he has been charged but not convicted for excesses during the royal regime seven years ago when he was chief secretary. Nnnn OFFICES AT BPKIHS PADLOCKED Kathmandu, 29 April: Junior Resident Welfare Society (JRWS), an Organization of junior doctors numbering 241 doctors at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) on Sunday padlocked the offices of Vice-chancellor Dr B P Das, Rector Dr Bikram Shrestha, Director D. Arbind Sinha and Registrar Nanda Kumar Thapa. Protesting doctors said the offices will be padlocked indefinitely. President Bikash Gauchan of JRWS said demands for perks and higher monthly allowances went unheeded amid charges of widespread irregularities in the Indian-assisted teaching hospital. Nnnn CAPITAL’S MONDAY MORNING TEMPERATURE 15 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 29 April: Capital’s morning temperature Monday hovered around 15 degrees Celsius. Mercury is expected to rise to 35 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Nnnn DEEP DIFFERENCES IN UML ON APPOINTMENT OF NEW CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS Kathmandu, 29 April: CPN-UML has yet again postponed its politburo meeting scheduled for Sunday as top leaders remained sharply divided over the names to be nominated for the vacant posts in the party, Republica reports/. The politburo meeting was deferred as the top leaders failed to propose names for nomination as central committee members. Leaders couldn´t finalize the names even after they held two rounds of standing committee meetings on Sunday after deferring the politburo. Party vice-chairman Bamdev Gautam said they couldn´t finalize the list as there were more aspirants than the number of vacant positions. “The politburo had earlier instructed the standing committee to come up with a unanimous list. But we haven´t yet been able to prepare such a list,” said Gautam. He said it is taking time as they are trying to forge consensus at the standing committee. “We have narrowed down the list and we will finalize the names during tomorrow´s meeting,” UML Secretary Bishnu Paudel told Republica. According to him, they are planning to call the next politburo meeting in the first week of May. A politburo meeting on April 17 had entrusted the party´s top five leaders with preparing a list of 15 candidates for nomination as central committee members and other top posts. The leaders are also to recommend names for other vacant top posts such as party vice-chairperson and politburo members. The meeting had entrusted Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, KP Sharma Oli, Bamdev Gautam and Ishwar Pokharel with proposing candidates for the posts. The party has 15 vacant positions for CC members. Six central-level leaders along with Vice-chairman Ashok Rai quit the party last year and later formed Federal Socialist Party headed by Rai. Politburo member Ram Chandra Jha recently defected to the UCPN (Maoist). Ravindra Shrestha was expelled from the party as he eloped with a girl and went out of contact. One more post fell vacant with the death of UML leader Dilli Bahadur Mahat. Similarly, the party has a provision of nominating five percent of the 116 central committee members and these nominations were long overdue. As per this provision, six members have to be nominated. “Leaders may opt to defer nominations if they fail to agree on names because each of the top leaders has a separate set of their favorite members,” said a leader. The top leaders have been given the responsibility, thinking that an understanding among them would help quell any dissatisfaction that may arise following the nominations because they command the major factional groups within the party. Sources privy to the developments said the leaders are likely to propose new members from the same ethnic communities the defectors had represented. Leaders from the ethnic communities had quit the party en masse accusing the UML establishment of dilly-dallying on its policy on federalism. While CPN-UML has endorsed the policy of delineating states based on common or multiple-ethnic identities, dissident leaders lobbied for states based on single-ethnic identity. Nnnn M LONDON EMBASSY CONTROVERSY CONTINUES Kathmandu, 29 April: The Nepali Embassy in London has once again courted fresh problems after failing to pay its annual insurance charge of 43,000 pounds sterling (Rs 58 million) for the year 2012. As the December 2012 deadline for the insurance fee has come and gone, Aviva, the local insurance party, has warned that it will terminate the insurance pact with the Nepali Embassy if it fails to submit the premium before May 1, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.. The Nepali Embassy had failed to pay its insurance premium for more than five months last year too, resulting in embarrassment to the Nepali staff and government. The embassy building in London is considered the most expensive property that Nepal owns abroad but has not been properly maintained for long. There are outstanding requests from the London mission for 4.5 million pounds for repair and maintenance work. The Ministry of Finance only released 200,000 pounds a month ago for maintenance. The embassy had repeatedly written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) asking that the insurance be paid but the MoFA has passed the buck to the Ministry of Finance. “We do not know what will happen if we fail to pay back the insurance due,” said an embassy source in London. In recognition for the dedication shown by the Gurkhas in the British Army, the British government, in 1938, had handed over the building’s lease to Nepal. According to a bilateral agreement, Nepal would pay 100 pounds annually as lease amount for the first 25 years and 1,000 pounds for the next 25-50 years. Govt panel undecided over selling property A cross-ministerial panel headed by Nepali Ambassador to the UK Suresh Chandra Chalise has sought another 45 days to submit its report on whether the embassy building should be sold or retained. Earlier, the government had given the panel a month’s time to visit the premises and prepare its report. A preliminary report was prepared by another team led by Joint Secretary at the MoFA Ambika Luitel and forwarded to London to accommodate suggestions from the Nepali Ambassadors to Germany and Belgium—Suresh Man Pradhan and Ram Mani Pokhrel respectively—who are also members of the team. Technical details, domestic law provisions and the ramification of selling the property were mentioned in the preliminary report, along with an interim order from the Supreme Court halting the sale of the property , by the Luitel-led team. Located on London’s most expensive street, the Kensington Palace Gardens, the five-story embassy building, filled with ancient art and sculptures, could fetch 300 to 500 million pounds if sold through a competitive bidding process, according to MoFA officials. Nnnn SUSHIL KOIRALA, DEUBA DISPPTE SURFACES AGAIN IN NC Kathmandu, 29 April: Barely three weeks after the party’s Mahasamiti meeting drove home the message of intra-party unity, dispute s over appointments in the party’s internal bodies has plunged the Nepali Congress (NC) into a deeper discord, Kamal Dev Bhattarai writes in The Kathmandu Post. . The Mahasamiti meet from April 8-11 mandated the party to give a complete shape to its central departments and organisations from districts to the local level. On the strength of such authority, NC President Sushil Koirala has started homework to make appointments in the internal organisations. The main dispute lies in the nomination in the party’s parliamentary board, a body responsible for selecting candidates in national and local elections. A few days ago, Koirala demanded a list of names from the faction led by senior NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba for the appointments in the board and departments. But Deuba refused to provide recommendations citing lack of formal discussion on the appointments. Deuba has put forth a demand that the appointment row should be resolved through a package deal. “Sushilji has not held any serious discussion with Deuba about the appointment. He demanded the names of leaders through on the phone without a principle agreement on it,” said NC leader Ramesh Rijal, who is close to Deuba. According to leaders, Koirala has warned Deuba that he will finalise the names on his own. The NC’s statute has it that the 15-member parliamentary board should be formed within the two months of the completion of party’s General Convention. However, there has not been any progress towards to that effect even 31 months after the party’s 12th General Convention. As the major parties are planning to hold CA elections in November this year, the NC seems to be in urgency to form the parliamentary board as it is responsible to select candidates across the country. With the number of Central Working Committee (CWC) members willing on board going up, both Koirala and Deuba are finding it difficult to select the names from their factions, leading to a delay in forming the board. Both the rival factions want their dominant presence in the board because they believe that they can influence the candidate selection process, the most dispute d issue in election time. Formation of departments, nomination of remaining CWC members and resolving intra-party dispute s are other contentious issues the rival NC factions are at loggerheads with each other. The rift between Koirala and Deuba reached a climax after the department chiefs and zonal coordinators loyal to Deuba resigned en mass on August 15 last year. During the Mahasamiti meet, Koirala and Deuba made an understanding to keep their differences at bay stating that it would give a negative message to cadres. On July 15 last year, almost two years after the party’s 12th general convention, Koirala had nominated 42 departments and 4 zonal coordinators. While leaders from the Koirala faction say it is a privilege of the party president to make appointments, the Deuba faction claim that the NC chief is trying to maintain a monopoly in the party. nnnn