KATHMANDU: At least 10 ministers in the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led coalition, including senior party leaders and members of the Constituent Assembly, have refused to comply with the mandatory provision of furnishing their property details to concerned authorities.

After the ministers and political leaders flouted the law, the National Vigilance Centre (NVC) had forwarded the details of the defiant ministers to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for necessary action.

Defence Minister Bidhya Devi Bhandari tops the league table in flouting the existing law by not furnishing the property details. Others in the row include Minister Laxman Lal Karna, Sarbhadev Prasad Ojha and Mohammad Aftab Alam, who have brazenly violated the Section 50 of the Corruption Prevention Act, 2002, which mandates a minister to submit property details.

Some of the top party leaders who have violated the law included Chairman of the ruling CPN-UML Jhala Nath Khanal, NC leaders Ram Chandra Paudel, Amod Prasad Upadhyay and Dr Ram Sharan Mahat and leader of the main opposition Unified CPN-Maoist Ram Bahadur Thapa 'Badal'.

"Since they did not furnish property details, we have forwarded their details to the CIAA today for necessary action," Indra Bahadur Dangi, DSP of NVC told The Himalayan Times.

The state ministers who did not furnish their property details are: Indra Prasad Dhungel, Sanjaya Kumar Sah, Sarad Kumar Yadav and Govinda Chaudhari. Similarly, assistant ministers Kalawoti Devi Dusad and Chanda Chaudhary and two others in the cabinet have refused to submit their property details. CA members Mohammad Siddiqui, Sapana Pradhan Malla, Gagan Thapa, Kunti Shahi, Indrajit Rai, Keshav Kumar Budhathoki, Krishna Prasad Yadav, Khobhari Raya, Achyut Raj Pandey, Ajaya Kumar Chourasiya, Anil Kumar Jha, and Ishwori Neupane also flouted the legal provision.

Acting Chief Commissioner of the CIAA Lalit Bahadur Limbu expressed serious concerns about the brazen violation of law by those including even the party president and ministers in the ruling coalition.

"This reflects how frail is the rule of law in our country," Limbu said, adding, "We will now look into the details and decide what course to follow next."

According to Section 50 of the Corruption Prevention Act, 2002, the constitutional anti-graft body can slap a fine of Rs 50,000 to each of those ministers and leaders, who have breached the existing law. To sum up, 138 out of 601 Constituent Assembly members violated the legal provision to furnish property details after assuming offices. There are 16 Joint Secretaries, 83 Under Secretaries 1003 Section Officers who similarly flouted the obligation.