Kathmandu, May 13

The Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation has forwarded a proposal to the Cabinet for the formation of a high-level commission to investigate cases of grab/misuse of public land, including the much-hyped Baluwatar land-grab case, and land owned by Guthis.

As per the Cabinet’s direction to the ministry to form such a commission, the ministry forwarded the proposal to the Cabinet some four days ago, according to a high-level official of the ministry.

The Cabinet has yet to take a decision on the matter. “Hopefully the Cabinet will take a call after the prime minister returns from his foreign visit,” said the official. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is presently on an official visit to Vietnam and Cambodia, will return home on Wednesday.

The ministry’s Secretary Gopinath Mainali also said the government had begun homework to form such high-level commission, but he did not give further details.

The ministry source said that the proposed commission would be represented by experts and former justices and administrators. It will look into any possible grab/misuse of only those land plots that were acquired by the government at different times by paying due compensation to owners, and the entire Guthi-owned land across the country.

The proposed commission will study the status of government-acquired Guthi-owned land, keep proper records and archive, investigate who is involved in irregularities in such land, probe modus operandi and interrogate suspects.

It will also recommend to the government how the ownership of such land plots could be transferred to the government and Guthi, and what measures could be taken to avoid such land-grab cases in the future.

The official said the commission would most probably be given six months to investigate and make necessary recommendations to the government.

The cases of grab/misuse of public and Guthi-owned land came to the fore after a government-formed committee concluded that 113-ropani government-acquired land in Baluwatar was illegally transferred in the names individuals.

The case became more controversial after it was revealed that an eight-anna plot on the embezzled land was registered in the name of the son of Bishnu Poudel, general secretary of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

The matter is being investigated by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority and the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police for further action.

Anti-corruption activists said formation of a commission to look into the Baluwatar land-grab case, which had already been investigated by the government-formed committee with the CIAA and CIB taking forward the investigation, suggested the government’s ill-intention to protect those involved.

Transparency International Chairman Khem Raj Regmi said there was nothing wrong in forming the commission to study other such land grab cases, but the Baluwatar case should be left alone.

“Investigation into Baluwatar land grab case has already made significant progress. Mixing it with other such cases will only prolong the investigation and take us nowhere,” he said.

“This raises doubts whether it is a bid to protect those involved.”