Kathmandu, December 18, 2006

A cabinet meeting held today decided to appoint former chief justice Bishwanath Upadhaya Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The decision followed a recommendation made by the Constitutional Council headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. The Cabinet also decided to appoint Dr Lila Pathak, a former administrator, and Gauri Pradhan, a human rights activist, members of the national rights body.

The meeting of the Constitutional Council, whose ex-officio members are Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Subash Nembang and Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Poudel, had earlier today recommended to the Cabinet the names for the vacant NHRC posts.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal and other international donors had been piling up pressure on the government to appoint the NHRC officials.

However, today’s decision met with strong protest from Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Amik Sherchan, who walked out of the Cabinet meeting. “The appointments should have been made after the formation of an interim government with the Maoists,” he said.

Upadhaya also expressed “unhappiness” with the manner in which other members of the NHRC were picked. “I will think over my appointment,” Upadhaya told reporters. Upadhaya, who retired as the SC chief justice, had headed the 1990 Constitution Drafting Commission.

He was appointed a SC justice in 1970 and the late King Mahendra had tried to dismiss him.

Upadhaya was chairman of the Nepal Law Reform Commission and had also drafted the Civil Code, 1963.

NDWC staffers to protest water supply privatisation

Employees of the Nepal Drinking Water Corporation today announced protest programmes against the government decision to hand over the management of water supply system in the Kathmandu valley to a British company.

The NDWC Joint Struggle Committee, comprising Nepal Drinking Water Corporation Employees’ Association (NDCEA) and Drinking Water Corporation Employees’ Organisation (DWCEO), has decided that staffers would don black bands on their heads while on duty from 10 am to 1 pm tomorrow, till 2 pm on Wednesday and until 3 pm on Thursday.

They would also distribute pamphlets to protest the government decision. On December 22, the employees would organise a sit-in protest in front of the NDWC central office Tripureshwor for one hour beginning 12 noon.

“Further protest plans would be decided after the meeting of JSC on December 22,” Om Adhikary, the general secretary of the NDCEA said while addressing a press conference organised here today.