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CIAA CHIEF HEARING PUT OFF FOR SIXTH TIME AT SUPREME COURT
Kathmandu, 3 July: A division bench of the supreme court Tuesday put off
the the sixth time a hearing on a petition challenging the appointment of
Lokman Singh Karki as the head of CIAA.
The first hearing was conducted 15 May.
Karki has been accused of excesses during the royal regime when he was chief secretary for which his appointment was challenged.
A high-level political mechanism of the Big Three and Madesh Morcha recommended Karki’s appointment to government.
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ILLEGAL NEPALI WORKERS IN SAUDI ARABIA CAN BENEFIT
FROM AMNESTY
Kathmandu, 3 July: Saudi Arabia has extended an amnesty for illegal immigrants
There are an estimated 10,000 Nepali workers in the oil-rich kingdom.

With the amnesty extension, illegal workers can apply to return home by  2 November without any legal hassles.

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PLAN TO APPOINT BHATTARAI SENIOR PARTY LEADER IN UCPN MAOIST

Kathmandu, 3 July: Following the resignation by its vice-chairman, the UCPN (Maoist) is mulling over various options to accommodate Baburam Bhattarai, with the senior leader post being the best possible alternative, Kamal Dev Bhattarai writes in The Kathmandu Post.
Should that materialise Bhattrai will hold a similar position in the party as
Sher Bahadur Deuba’s in the Nepali Congress, which is headed by Sushil
Koirala. Deuba enjoys a special status in the party and though he is not among the top office bearers in the party, his position is only second to the party president.
The post of senior leader in the party will mean that Bhattarai will be senior to the two proposed vice-chairmen, a general secretary and four secretaries. Another alternative being discussed in the party is to create a separate party committee called ‘Council’ that includes senior leaders, who wish to stay away from the party’s ‘active politics’. The details of this alternative are yet to be finalised.
In a party meeting called to discuss how to adjust Bhattarai and resolving intra-party appointments, many leaders suggested Dahal to create a post of senior leader for Bhattarai. To create such a position, the UCPN (M) needs to amend its statute and the plenum planned for July 19 has this mandate.
Bhattarai faction leaders suggested that it would not be appropriate to retain Bhattarai in the post of vice-chairman as he publicly gave up the position. Some leaders close to Dahal said the party should bring back Bhattarai to his previous position as the party is soon going to contest the Constituent Assembly elections. They argued that Bhattarai’s decision will adversely affect party plans.
“But a large majority of leaders, including us, urged the party to create a position of senior leader for him [Bhattarai] as the chances of retaining him in the
post of vice-chairman is thin,” said leader Devendra Poudel, close to Bhattarai. But his wife, Hishila Yami, requested the former prime minister to withdraw his decision.
The meeting, which was attended by members from office bearer, Standing Committee and bureaus also discussed about the possible modalities to fill vacant posts in the party’s committees.
A new crisis emerged after Bhattarai on Saturday gave up his post, leading the party to call a meeting of extended plenum on July 19. His decision fuelled an intra-party rift concerning appointments in office bearer team, Standing Committee, Politburo and Central Committee.
Chairman Dahal is preparing a proposal in relation to appointments in the party’s different committees taking suggestions from party leaders.
The Maoist party is still undecided about its best bet. Some leaders have suggested that the party should prepare a criterion and make appointments, while some others are for going to elections to select leaders. “As the number of aspirants is high, there should be elections for some posts,” said Poudel.
But some leaders argue that it is not appropriate to go for elections, stating that it will make further weaken the party. “The leadership should make appointments on the basis of criteria set by the party,” said leader Haribol Gajurel.
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UML URGES LOCAL POLLS AS WELL
Kathmandu, 3 July: The CPN-UML has told the government and the Election Commission that not only the Constituent Assembly elections, but also the local polls should be held on November 19, The Kathmandu Post writes..
Such a conclusion was drawn by a meeting of the UML local development and physical infrastructure department on Tuesday. Severe economic and political has emerged at the local level in absence of people’s elected representatives and thus local elections should be held without further ado, it said.
“UML believes that the local bodies should not be left sans people’s elected representatives. So we call on authorities concerned to hold local elections and CA polls simultaneously on November 19,” a leader of the party, Netra Panthi, stated in a press statement.
Funds allocated for the local bodies have been largely misused as the local bodies are running without people’s representatives for the last 12 years, he said.
On the contrary, the election body says holding CA and local elections at the same time is not possible.
“Holding the CA and local polls concurrently is not technically possible,” said Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety. “However, we can start preparations for local elections immediately after 35 days of announcing CA poll results.”
Government officials have been running the local bodies ever since the term of the local administrations expired in 2002. Immediately after the royal coup, the then King Gyandendra Shah had tried to conduct the local polls, but his efforts were in vain after the political parties stayed away.
Following the success of the People’s Movement-II, the parties represented in the former CA formed an all-party mechanism to run the local bodies.
The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, however, dissolved the cross-party mechanism last year, citing the involvement of people-elected representatives in corruption and irregularities.
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