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NHRC at war within
KATHMANDU, AUG 19 -
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seems to be further enervating as the differences among its five members is taking a toll on the institution’s performance. The differences are mainly on issues related to internal “mismanagement and irregularities”.
For the last 10 months, two NHRC members, K.B. Rokaya and Leela Pathak, have been “boycotting” all board meetings following disagreements. As a result, the institution is being run solely on the decision of three members — Chairman Kedra Nath Upadhyaya, Ram Nagina Singh and Gauri Pradhan.
Rokaya and Pathak are firm in their stand that they will continue to boycott the meetings unless the rest initiate efforts to implement their 11-point demand, which includes addressing the concerns of “irregularities” and “mismanagement”. The other three say all demands have been addressed and there should be no reason to boycott the meetings. “There is nothing more to do. The two attend the meeting when they feel like attending, and boycott when they don’t want to,” said NHRC member Ram Nagina Singh. The situation is more complicated than this though. The disputes in NHRC had also drawn a House committee’s attention some four months ago after two of NHRC’s disgruntled members dema-nded the Committee’s intervention to address “irregularities” and “mismanagement”.
The Committee directed NHRC on April 3 to sort out its “internal problems” through discussions internally but nothing has transpires yet. The commissioners still do not see eye-to-eye and the recent spats have worsened the situation. On Sunday, some NHRC officials organised a press meet to clarify there is no corruption as alleged by NHRC member Pathak. Although they tried to prove that NHRC Secretary Bishal Khanal was not in the wrong by flashing a “latest” report of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), it failed to impress Pathak and Rokaya. Pathak had accused the secretary of graft in a vehicle purchase deal involving Rs. 6 million.
Rokaya and Pathak said the press meet was organised without a discussion. “Besides, the corruption charge was not against NHRC as it was claimed in the press meet, but against the secretary who should have first proved himself clear in front of the member who had accused him of irregularities,” said Rokaya.
Rokaya and Pathak are of the view that the OAG report has not cleared the corruption charge. “If there was no corruption, why didn’t the secretary make it clear earlier and why didn’t he give the documents of vehicle purchase deal despite repeated requests over the last one year?” questioned Pathak. “Some back-dated documents must have been prepared to hide the irregularity. I am still denied access to the files.”
Secretary Khanal refuted the allegation. “The file was taken away by the Chairman (Upadhyaya) and it was in his possession until recently. But they [Rokaya and Pathak] have not asked for it, either. If they want it, they can get it,” said Khanal. He said the press meet was called pretty late — a full year after the accusation was made — as the “office” was waiting for the OAG report.
NHRC Spokesman Gauri Pradhan said the issue [of corruption] has not been lodged officially in the board meetings. He declined to comment on the press meet.
EU envoys plea to rights body
KATHMANDU: Representatives and ambassadors from the European Union (EU) have urged the NHRC to establish a joint taskforce to protect and promote human rights in Nepal. Speaking at an interaction on Thursday, EU representatives urged the NHRC to coordinate with different international human rights organisations to play the leading role in promoting human rights in Nepal. “The international communities play an important role to tackle the challenging state of human rights in Nepal,” said Kedar Nath Upadhyaya, NHRC Chairman.
Posted on: 2010-08-20 08:34
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