Kathmandu, November 15

Six interested candidates have filed their applications for the post of administrator of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) — the government-owned financial institution. Along with Officiating Administrator Deepak Rauniyar and Acting Chief Officer Rajendra Kafle of EPF there are four other candidates in the competition.

The other candidates are Deputy Chief Officers of EPF Jitendra Dhital and Jiwan Kumar Katuwal who have also applied for the top post of the institution. Chhapi Raj Pant, chief risk officer of Nepal SBI Bank and Laxmi Prasad Shrestha — a permanent resident of Golfutar in Kathmandu — have also submitted their applications within the deadline of Thursday set by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The applicants have submitted their applications along with the business plan to take forward the organisation, as per the Selection and Recommendation Guidelines, published by the MoF. The top post of the EPF has been vacant since September 6 after the then administrator Krishna Prasad Acharya retired.

Meanwhile, six interested candidates have applied for the post of the administrator of Rastriya Beema Sansthan (RBS) — the government-owned life insurance company. Surendra Thapa, who is the officiating administrator of RBS, Damodar Sapkota, Ganesh Raj Karki, Rajendra Jung Karki, Ramdev Yadav and Shiva Hari Shrestha have submitted their applications to the MoF within the deadline.

According to Revenue Secretary of MoF, Shishir Kumar Dhungana, all the applicants have submitted their applications along with business plan. The Selection and Recommendation Committee led by Dhungana will recommend three potential candidates for the post of administrator in the two government-owned financial institutions through open competition.

“We are in the evaluation phase and the selection committee will recommend the top three candidates after studying the business plans of the candidates and interviewing each candidate,” Dhungana informed.

As per the EPF Act, the tenure of the administrator of EPF will be for five years and the administrator of Rastriya Beema Sansthan will serve for three years according to a provision of RBS Act.

Applicants will be disqualified if they are unable to meet required criteria set by Insurance Board — the insurance sector regulator.