KATHMANDU, JUNE 24
The Ministry of Home Affairs has registered a bill at Secretariat of the Federal Parliament for an amendment to the 'Nepal Police and Provincial Police (Operation, Coordination and Supervision) Act, 2019'.
The amendment bill proposes that the functions, duties, and power of provincial police in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur shall be dealt with by Nepal Police itself.
If the amendment bill is passed by the House of Representatives, Bagmati Provincial Police will not be allowed to exercise its functions, duties and powers in Kathmandu valley. There are 13 districts, including Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, in Bagmati Province.
"The functions, duties and powers of provincial police in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur district shall be handled by Nepal Police itself.
The functions also includes investigation into criminal offences. There shall be units of Nepal Police in these three districts to perform such functions, duties and powers," the amendment bill says.
The act mandates Nepal Police to investigate offense against the state, immigration offense, organised crime, terrorism, human trafficking, cybercrime and cross-border crime. However, provincial police shall investigate cases other than those that fall under jurisdiction of Nepal Police, according to the new act.
Similarly, there will be a 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.
There shall also be one coordination unit, each in Nepal Police and provincial police office for information and intelligence sharing. The act says that personnel of Nepal Police may be deployed at local levels under provincial police if there is shortage of security personnel in provinces.
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.
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.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 25, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
