Kathmandu, August 24:

The Administrative Committee of the cabinet, which has been entrusted with the task of picking 26 senior bureaucrats before they are appointed as secretaries of various ministries, has not yet been able to finalise the names.

However, efforts are still underway with yet another meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning. The committee meeting is being convened by Minister for General Administration Ram Chandra Yadav, who is the CPN-UML representative in the interim cabinet.

The members of the committee formed to pick up secretaries comprise Minister of Home Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato, Minister of Local Development Dev Prasad Gurung and Minister of Labour and Transport Management Ramesh Lekhak.

The fact that the committee is finding it intractable to make the final selection becomes evident from the fact that the cabinet meeting which was initially expected to be organised even today was abandoned since the names have not yet been agreed upon.

“We have not yet been able to finalise. But there is a meeting which has been scheduled for tomorrow morning. Let’s see if we can agree,” said a minister, who is one of the members, on the condition of anonymity.

However, the administrative committee has agreed to recommend 16 senior bureaucrats who have been serving as acting secretaries “as a matter of principle.”

Apart from that, the team has reportedly agreed to have three who have roots in the Tarai and one woman, while there is a “rat race among even top party leaders to have their men in the post, which is delaying the appointment.”

In case the issue is sorted out by tomorrow, the next cabinet meeting is expected to make a formal announcement, it is learnt.