Kathmandu, February 12

Nepal Police and Provincial Police (Operation, Coordination and Supervision) Bill, which was enacted into law yesterday, stipulates a provision of a five-member Police Coordination Committee headed by the minister of home affairs to coordinate between Nepal Police and provincial police.

The committee comprises ministers of internal affairs of all provinces and secretary and a joint secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs and inspector general of Nepal Police as its members.

As per Section 14 of the act, the meeting of the committee shall be held on the date, time and venue as specified by its chairperson. Secretaries of provincial ministries, provincial police chiefs and other office-bearers may also be invited to the meeting as per necessity.

Functions, duties and powers of the committee are to make recommendation to the Government of Nepal on the roles to be carried out by the federal and provincial police to maintain peace, law and order throughout the country; coordinate for implementation of National Security Policy; identify, review and solve policy problems regarding operation, supervision and coordination of federal and provincial police and settle dispute over inter-province police jurisdiction.

There shall also be one coordination unit, each in Nepal Police and provincial police office for information and intelligence sharing, according to Section 13 of the act. “Personnel of Nepal Police may be deployed at local levels under provincial police if there is shortage of security personnel in provinces,” it reads.

The act allows transfer of police personnel working in one province to other provinces or in Nepal Police.

It empowers the provincial police to recruit its personnel through open competition on recommendation of the Provincial Public Service Commission.

The ministry of internal affairs of a province may seek police reinforcement from other provinces through the MoHA to maintain law and order during a violent situation.

The MoHA and the MoIA concerned shall supervise Nepal Police and provincial police, respectively.

It requires the provincial police to obtain approval of Nepal Police for procurement of arms, ammunition and other logistics. Nepal Police has been mandated to operate across the country to maintain law and order, whereas the provincial police is not authorised to intervene in security affairs of other provinces.

The act mandates Nepal Police to investigate offense against the state, immigration offense, organised crime, terrorism, human trafficking, cybercrime and cross-border crime.

Provincial police shall investigate cases other than those that fall under jurisdiction of Nepal Police, according to the new act.