KATHMANDU: Very few ministers, secretaries and government officials are found to be submitting reports after their foreign or domestic trips.

Good Governance Act 2007 requires all officials to submit a report of their visit. The visits made at the taxpayers’ cost have largely gone unreported about

due to poor implementation of the law. Consequently,

the government lacks data about the visits.

Central Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, led by the chief secretary, as envisioned by the Act, is non-functional. Sharada Prasad Trital, spokesperson, Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, said, “There is no practice of submitting such reports. However, we are planning to effectively monitor visits.” A recent meeting of the evaluation committee decided that the provisions of the Act should be effectively implemented, he added.

The PM’s office is set to keep records of all foreign visits. Many ministers are flouting the provision of informing the Prime Minister prior to their visit by telling the chief executive about it only after the trip.

Many ministers and secretaries have been using the visits to fulfill their personal goals due to the lack of proper scrutiny, a source at Prime Minister’s office said. Spokesperson Trital also said preparations were underway to implement reports submitted by officials after their foreign trips.