Successive reports hardly implemented

• Will the panel on Kapilvastu riots meet the same fate?

Kathmandu, September 23:

During 15-odd years, successive governments have formed many commissions to investigate a number of incidents. These commissions have religiously submitted their reports, recommending the government to do this and do that. But successive governments have hardly implemented their suggestions.

Not lagging behind in this established tradition, the present government, on September 20, formed a judicial commission headed by a judge of the appellate court Lokendra Mallik, to investigate the Kapilvastu incident. However, there is no certainty whether recommendations of the commission will be implemented.

The government is yet to implement recommendations figuring in the report prepared by judge Top Bahadur Singh on the riot that ensued in Kathmandu on September 1, 2004. The riot ensued after the killing of 12 Nepalis in Iraq.

Property worth Rs 1 billion was destroyed in the riot. Singh had also prepared a report on the Nagarkot massacre in which 11 people were killed.

The list goes on and on.

A report on the Gaur massacre, prepared by another appellate court judge, Hari Prasad Ghimire, has also been gathering dust. The report had recommended the government to provide compensation to 29 Maoists cadres, who were killed in Gaur.

A judicial commission headed by supreme court justice Khil Raj Regmi had investigated the loss of lives and property during the Tarai movement. Forty-two people had died in course of the movement. “Though families of the victims were compensated, other recommendations were not implemented,” a member of the commission told this daily.

Yet another commission was formed under the coordination of appellate court judge Janardhan Bahadur Khadka to investigate the Lahan incident. The government has not bothered to implement the recommendations that the commission made in its report.

Appellate court judge Keshari Raj Pundit-led commission had investigated the Ghunsa chopper crash that occurred last year. Over 22 conservationists had died in the crash. Heeding the commission’s report, the government compensated the families of the dead, but did not bother to implement other recommendations.

Appellate court judge Purusottam Parajuli investigated communal violence that occurred in Nepalgunj last year.

According to a member of the commission, the commission had recommended the government to take action against some security officials, which the government did not. Instead, it either promoted or transferred the officials to better places.

“Under Inquiry Commission Act 1969, the government has the authority to set up investigating commissions. The government also has the authority to decide whether or not to implement the reports,” a judge who headed a commission said.

A former SC judge, Bhairav Prasad Lamsal, had probed into property amassed by public office holders and recommended action against many. Only a handful of those indicted by the commission were prosecuted.

Former judge Trilok Pratap Rana had investigated the death of the then secretary of CPN-UML Madan Bhandari and foreign department chief of the CPN-UML Jiva Raj Ashrit. The commission had called for prosecution of driver Ambar Lama. The driver served a five-year jail term. Lama was shot dead two years ago.

The status of former SC Justice Krishna Jung Rayamajhi and late Judge Janardan Lal Mallik-headed commissions is all clear. Rayamajhi investigated the loss during Jana Andolan-II and Mallik investigated the same during Jana Andolan 1989. The commissions had called on the government to prosecute the accused, but to no avail.

“We have the practice of setting up such commissions to pacify people and find out the loss that occurs in any incident,” deputy attorney general Narendra Prasad Pathak told this daily.

“Formation of such commission helps gather information and helps government formulate policies. Providing compensation is not the only issue,” Pathak who has worked in many such commissions, added.