KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 9

Management of the Dairy Development Corporation faces accusation of accepting an application from a candidate who was not qualified for the post.

DDC employee Engineer Indra Bhushan Kumar Yadav said he was the sole candidate for promotion when the DDC placed an advertisement on 15 November 2019, seeking application from qualified candidates within 30 days.

Yadav said as per the corporation by-law, a candidate must have passed bachelor’s degree in engineering and s/he should have already served the corporation for four years to qualify for promotion. He said he met all qualification requirements and was thus promoted to the 8th level post by the Selection Committee on 30 January 2020.

But his colleague Nilkantha Gautam challenged his promotion before the board of directors saying his number for one-month training was not counted for promotion.

Yadav said only after Gautam challenged his promotion he came to know that Gautam’s application was accepted by the corporation administration. He said that Gautam had filed an application after 57 days of the set deadline and the DDC management accepted his application by invoking the old by-law of Dairy Development Corporation.

Chair of the Trade Union of DDC Sahadev Aryal said his office had objected to the management’s decision to accept the application that challenged Yadav’s promotion.

“Yadav’s opponent does not meet the educational qualification and his application was also not filed within the 30-day deadline. How can the management invoke old by-law after 57 days?” Aryal asked.

Aryal said the matter was referred to the board of directors as there was differing opinion in the selection committee.

“Representatives of the Public Service Commission and line ministry are against accepting the application that challenged Yadav’s promotion,” he added.

Aryal said the management did not publish any notice before accepting the second applicant’s application and thus it was against the principles of law and norms.

General Manager of DDC Rudra Prasad Poudel, however, said the management did not err by accepting Gautam’s application and the argument that provisions of old by-law were invoked was unfounded.