KATHMANDU, JUL 01 -
The State Affairs Committee under the Legislature-Parliament is all set to probe the Nepal Army’s decision to give retirement to two women brigadier generals.

Dr. Geeta Basnyat and Dr. Lalita Joshi are retiring from Saturday completing the four-year tenure as brigadier generals under the Army’s Health Directorate  despite the provision of extension of their terms for three more years.

Military Secretary Brig. Gen. Prem Prakash Thapa Magar has written to the Ministry of Defence, saying that the duo were being pensioned off following the completion of first four-year tenure as per the Article 17 (2) of the Army Act 2063. Article 17 (3) of the Act maintains that the term of a brigadier general can be extended for additional three years on the recommendation of the Army chief. Expect some cases, the Army chief has been extending the term of brigadier generals.

“The committee has decided to seek explanation from the Army over the reasons and basis of extension and non-extension of term,” said a source at the parliamentary committee. “The chairman will first seek verbal explanation and then, if needed, will demand written explanation from the Army chief.”

He said the committee took up the matter following complaints about arbitrary retirement being given by Gen. Chattra Man Singh Gurung.  “The Army chief has been solely exercising the full authority in promotion, transfer and term extension. Thus, the Army act needs to be amended,” said a member of the House committee.

Meanwhile, a source close to Gen. Gurung said the Army chief had not made any retirement decision. “The concerned department didn’t recommend for the extension of the two doctors’ term,” said the source.

Last month, Gurung had opposed extension of the term of Brig. Gen. Ramesh Bista, the then head of the Army’s Air Service Directorate. Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari had proposed the Cabinet to lengthen his term, but Gurung had opposed the move.

Posted on: 2010-07-02 08:13

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.

* Full Name

* Address

* Email Address

* Comment
[Some of the HTML tags you can use : <b>, <i>, <a>]

* Captcha

Get another CAPTCHA code