Kathmandu, September 18

Amid criticism from various quarters over the government’s delay in making public the property details of ministers, the Cabinet today published the property details of 28 ministers.

Laws require all holding public positions to make details of their property public within 60 days of assuming office. It, however, has already been more than 100 days since the government was formed.

Of the 56 Cabinet members, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has published property details of 28 ministers and state ministers, including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, on its website after the Cabinet decision.

As per details posted on the OPMCM website, the Prime Minister owns three land plots with a total area of 57 ropani in his home district, Dadeldhura, and a 10 bigha plot in Kanchanpur. However, these land plots have been shown as ancestral joint family property, and are registered in the names of his late father and brothers.

As far as jewellery is concerned, the PM has 10 units of asharfis (gold coins), two chains weighing two tola each, a bracelet weighing five tola, and four rings weighing one tola each. The source of the jewellery, except for the rings,

has been mentioned as gifts during his wedding. The report says the rings embedded with diamond, emerald, ruby and coral have been earned by the PM himself.

The prime minister has just over Rs 1.6 million in his bank account, the source of which has been mentioned as salary as a lawmaker.

Other ministers whose property details were made public include all three deputy prime ministers — Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, and Gopal Man Shrestha.

Prime Minister Deuba’s Cabinet has 56 members, including three deputy prime ministers, 26 Cabinet ministers and 26 state ministers. However, the ministers were inducted in phases and the 60-day deadline for some of them is yet to expire, so the remaining ministers are gradually submitting their property details, the OPMCM said.

This is not the first time ministers have failed to make public their property details within 60 days. Former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s Cabinet made public the property details of ministers four months after the government was formed.