Lalitpur, April 30:

The Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City today reinstated 21 city police personnel in their respective posts in the Market Control and Implementation Section after two years, following a decision of the SC on February 22.

The LMC had dismissed them two years ago during the tenure of Buddhi Raj Bajracharya, then nominated mayor, after the filing of a case against LMC in the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority in April 2004. The LMC was accused of making them permanent without fulfilling necessary legal procedure.

Though these 21 personnel came to resume their jobs at the LMC after their reinstatement by the SC, the LMC administration, on April 5, made an unnecessary administrative fuss about their reinstatement.

City Police Inspector, Kadam Lal Maharjan, said: “We went to the LMC everyday to state our cause and had to undergo too many official procedures to resume work.” He said that when they first narrated their problem to the mayor, it was referred through the executive officer to the Administrative Division and to the Legal Section.

The officials showed apathy at our reinstatement, he added. Executive officer Prem Raj Joshi countered: “Official procedures subsequent to acting upon the SC decision delayed their reinstatement.”

Meanwhile, LMC staffers have padlocked its Finance Section to bar elected representatives, according to Babu Raja Maharjan, LMC staff and chairperson of the Mid-Western Region of the Nepal Municipal Employees’ Association.They also staged a demonstration today.