CIAA tells govt to set criteria for political appointments

KATHMANDU: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority on Wednesday urged the government to prepare criteria to regulate political appointments.

According to the Commission spokesperson Krishna Hari Pushkar, the Commission wrote to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and urged it to endorse such criteria from the Cabinet at the earliest.

The anti-corruption constitutional body also told the government to ensure that all decisions on political appointments at various councils, trusts and academies - which laws require to be made from the Cabinet meeting - be made by the Cabinet, but not by an individual minister.

The Commission decision might affect around 500 officials, appointed politically, at various organisations, Pushkar shared.

Issuing a statement, Pushkar said the decision making procedure was found faulty after the Commission launched an investigation into appointment of various officials at the Nepal Health Research Council on various dates.

The Commission reminded the government that a Supreme Court order few years ago had also directed the government to make political appointments from the Cabinet meeting only.