Five guilty of transferring bikes’ ownership illegally

Kathmandu, April 17:

The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has directed its Bagmati Zonal office to take departmental action against five employees who were involved in illegally transferring the ownership certificates of four stolen motorcycles.

“Two of the motorbikes with the same number plates have been returned to their owners and another two are still with the traffic police as the documents did not match,” said Shalik Ram Dhakal, section officer at the Bagmati Zonal office.

Sources at the Department of Transport Management said all the four motorbikes

were first registered by Mohammad Khusid Ali Sekh of Birgung and had sold them off to different people with fake documents.

The DoTM has already requested the Home Ministry to arrest Sekh and has asked the Metropolitan Valley Traffic Police Office for support.

A five-member committee headed by Buddhi Bir Lama, the head of the Bagmati Zonal office of the DoTM, was looking into the case.

The panel, comprising section officer Shalik Ram Dhakal, mechanical engineers Tek Ram Bohora and Deepak Devkota and Hom Nath Khatiwada of the DoTM, had submitted its report on April 12.

The DoTM on Sunday decided to summon all employees involved in the case.

Those summoned are section officer Krishna Prasad Chapagain, mechanical engineer Mohan Prasad Bhattarai, nayab subba Manohar Puri, mechanical supervisor Bill Bahadur Bhujel and Pramod Pokhrel.

“The action may range from a minor warning to suspension. However, the authority must consult the Public Service Commission before it takes stringent action against them,” a source at the DoTM said, adding that the department has given discretionary powers to the Zonal office to take action as per the Civil Service Act.

The DoTM has also summoned Suraj Kumar Mulepati of Gandaki Zonal Office of the DoTM, five persons, including nayab subba Suryaman Baniya of the Narayani Zonal office, and typist Prakash Kumar Shrestha of the Bagmati Zonal office for interrogation after the probe committee named them for their involvement in changing the ownership of those motorbikes.

The Department of Transport Management has also directed the probe committee to consult a government lawyer and suggest what legal measures the department can take on such cases in the future.