Day at a Glance: From Court’s order to release Mahara’s To Govt. deciding not to investigate Minister Lamichhane

22nd March Friday: The major events of the day have been compiled in this segment ‘Day at a Glance!’

The major Headlines of the day include:

• CPN (Maoist Centre) Vice Chairperson Mahara releases on date of attendance
• Land of Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory back to govt. ownership
• PM Dahal apprised of E-driving License system audit
• National Land Commission dissolved
• Meeting between PM Dahal and Oli
• Govt. not to form parliamentary committee to investigate Home Minister Lamichhane

1. CPN (Maoist Centre) Vice Chairperson Mahara releases on date of attendance

CPN (Maoist Centre) Vice Chairperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara has been released on the date of attendance. Government Attorney Office Kathmandu’s District Attorney Khadindraraj Katuwal gave the orders to release Mahara on the date of attendance on Friday. CIB gave the responsibilities of Mahara to his son Nirmal. CIB released Mahara on the date of attendance, due to his deteriorating health condition. Likewise, CIB took Mahara’s statement for two days. An investigation officer said that Mahara’s health condition was critical while recording the statement.

2. Land of Bansbari Leather and Shoe Factory back to govt. ownership

The government has taken back the ownership over the land of Bansbari Leather and Shoe Factory Limited. Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation Balaram Adhikari shared in a press conference on Friday that the land belonging to the then-state-owned Bansbari leather shoe factory has been brought under the ownership of the government as per the Property Act 2034 BS. He said that the government took back ownership of the 10 ropani land with the help of the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police. After more than three months of investigation, the CIB found that the government land was privatized illegally. Accordingly, CIB arrested businessman Arun Chaudhary, then executive chairperson of the shoe factory, Ajit Narayan Singh Thapa, and Sanjay Thakur on January 18 for illegally transferring ownership of the 10 ropani land belonging to the Bansbari leather shoe factory.

3. PM Dahal apprised of E-driving License system audit

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has been apprised of the technical audit of the ‘Electronic Driving License’ system of the Department of Transport. The Technical Audit Committee was formed under the coordination of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers by the Department of Information Technology. The committee met Prime Minister today and handed over the technical audit report of the E-Driving License system. Receiving the report, Prime Minister Dahal said that the report would be studied and implemented and directed the concerned authorities to address the problems in the service delivery system and serve the people conveniently. The audit of the e-driving license system was carried out after a large number of fake driving licenses were found to have been issued due to a problem in the technical system.

4. National Land Commission dissolved

The government has dissolved the National Land Commission. The commission has been dissolved to give way for another commission to be formed to address issues related to land, said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma. ‘According to the provisions in the commission formation order and regulations, it has been decided to dissolve the existing commission to reconstitute another one,’ she said at a press conference held at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Friday to share about the decisions taken by the Cabinet. ‘A new land commission will be formed probably within a week ‘, she added. The cabinet meeting has approved the Nepali delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha to visit the People’s Republic of China from March 24 to April 1. Also, the spokesperson of the government, Minister Sharma shared that the meeting approved Dr. Meen Bahadur Shrestha, Vice Chair of the National Planning Commission, to participate in the meeting of the Board of Governors of ICIMOD to be held in Thimphu, Bhutan from April 29 to May 5.

5. Meeting between PM Dahal and Oli

A meeting has occurred between CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairperson and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and CPN (UML) Chairperson KP Sharma Oli. According to the PM’s Secretariat, a meeting was held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Singhadurbar on Friday. Government policies, programs, transitional justices, and other issues were discussed in the meeting. Likewise, PM Dahal urged Chairperson Oli to incorporate into the Socialist Front (Samajwadi Morcha). After the meeting, Chairperson Oli said that CPN (UML) would not join the Socialist Front.

6. Govt. not to form parliamentary committee to investigate Home Minister Lamichhane

The government will not form a parliamentary committee to investigate Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in the Cooperative fraud scandal. Answering the queries of the media on Friday, Government Spokesperson and Minister of Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that there was no need for forming an immediate inquiry committee to investigate Minister Lamichanne as there was not enough evidence against him.