Transferred public land in private hands: CIAA

Kathmandu, June 21 :

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has recommended departmental action against the acting secretary of the Ministry of Land Reform and Management, Rudra Kumar Shrestha, for allegedly registering public land in the name of a few individuals some eight years ago.

In a letter signed by CIAA secretary Tirtha Raj Sharma, the CIAA on June 18 recommended the ministry to take departmental action against Shrestha and section officer Rajendra Raut, accusing them of graft.

“I have already forwarded the CIAA recommendation to the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet for necessary action against Shrestha,” Minister Chaudhary told this daily over phone today. The CIAA has accused Shrestha of registering 37 ropani of public land — plot nos. 374 and 375 in the Gaidakot VDC of Nawalparasi district — some eight years ago in the name of Keshav Raj Sapkota and his men after taking bribe. The CIAA has recommended the government to withhold salary increments for Shrestha and Raut.

However, after CIAA’s recommendation, Shrestha and Minister Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary have been transferring staffers of several Land Revenue Offices under the ministry. The staffers have been opposing such transfers.

“I am not the authority to implement the CIAA recommendation so I have sent it to the PMO. But it was my decision to transfer the officials,” Chaudhary claimed. He also warned journalists not to interfere his Ministry’s functioning.

When contacted, Shrestha claimed that the CIAA had recommended just departmental action against him and that he had been actively performing his duties even after the recommendation.

“The recommendation does not bar me from doing my job,” he said. He claimed that some people had blown the issue out of proportion.