E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, NOV 02 -

Around half a dozen constitutional bodies run the risk of turning dysfunctional in the absence of office heads. The key posts are lying vacant as the Constitutional Council—the authority responsible for filling the vacant posts—has failed to even meet for the last several months owing to the longstanding political deadlock.

Crucial constitutional bodies like Office of the Auditor General (OGA), Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Election Commission (EC) and Public Service Commission (PSC) are running without office chiefs, and in some cases, the entire board of directors.

The Council, composed of seven members including the prime minister, incumbent chief justice, the speaker, the main opposition leader, and three Cabinet ministers, failed to take any decision on Monday also as the opposition leader—Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal—refused to attend the meeting. In fact, Dahal has persistently declined to attend the meeting for the last one year.

The Council’s decision some months ago to fill the vacancies was declared invalid by an apex court ruling on April 29 stating that the decision was taken in Dahal’s absence.

Officials in the constitutional bodies say it is very difficult to function without organizational heads as they are unable to bring any long-term policy or programme.

Among them all, the CIAA seems the most affected in that it is more than a year that has been running without it five board members, including the chief.  The absence of its board has not only minimised the CIAA’s performance in curbing rampant corruption and irregularities but has also rendered it weak and thus susceptible to threats from corrupt ministers. “We have been frequently receiving threats from top political leaders and it’s really getting harder to work without the commissioners,” said a CIAA official.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Minister for Labour and Transport Management Mohammad Aftab Alam had reportedly threatened CIAA official Bhagwati Kafle not to rule against the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) decision to purchase two aircraft and also not to rule against the smart card ID bidding.

Given the instances of threats in the absence of office chiefs, the anti-graft body has failed to take decisions on any of the high-profile corruption cases involving ministers, politicians and powerful officials.

Several corruption cases that were filed against Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Sarba Dev Ojha, Labour and Transport Management Minister Alam, Forest Minister Deepak Bohara, Energy Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, Local Development Minister Purna Kumar Sherma,

Health Minister Umakanta Chaudhary and others are on the backburner for over a year.

The Office of the Auditor General (OGA) is also facing a similar situation since the beginning of 2007. Almost four years have elapsed since the then Auditor General Gehendra Bahadur Adhikari retired, but the government is yet to appoint his replacement, said OGA Spokesman Moha Datta Timsina.

The three-year Strategic Plan (2010-2012) formulated for a better audit system and capacity building is likely to come a cropper. “The failure to sincerely implement the strategic plan will promote financial indiscipline,” added Timsina. Officials at the OGA said its effectiveness has decreased in the absence of an executive head.

The Election Commission (EC) and Public Service Commission (PSC) also are running without office heads, though they are managing with acting heads.

Posted on: 2010-11-02 08:51

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