Pathivara Temple committee suspected of embezzlement

By Prem Adhikari,Pashupatinagar (Ilam), June 2: Ilam's Rong Rural Municipality has asked the District Administration Office (DAO) to take control of the accounts of the old committee managing the Bahini Pathivara Temple and investigate possible embezzlement.

The committee had earlier promised to hold a general assembly to make public the details of the monetary and non-monetary property in its possession and hand them over to the local government. However, it did not do that, prompting the local government, as well as representatives of various political parties, to ask the DAO to look into potential malpractices that the old committee could be hiding.

The old committee is no longer associated with the Pathivara Temple. Since February 13, 2023, the temple has been managed by a new Pathivara Conservation and Management Committee formed by the rural municipality under its local Pathivara Conservation and Management Act.

Within only 100 days of operation, the new committee collected Rs. 6.6 million from offerings made to the temple. This high income made people wonder how much the old committee could have collected and question why it had not released details of its funds and property in over five years. They also went to the local government with their concerns who began pressuring the committee for transparency.

So, the old committee promised to hold a general assembly on May 28 and provide all the details. But, at the last minute, it postponed it to June 15. 

Following the postponement, an all-party meeting was called at the rural municipality to try and sort out the matter. Daulat Kumar Rai, chairman of the old committee, was also in attendance and was asked to present the details of the cash and non-cash assets the body held in the name of the temple.

Instead of discussing a way out or addressing the demands, Rai walked out, leaving the parties to believe that they needed to take the case to the DAO.

The old committee is also currently being audited by an auditor appointed by the rural municipality. According to rural municipality chair Mani Kumar Syangbo, it has already found many discrepancies in the bills maintained by the committee. 

"From the lack of VAT bills to differing information on income receipts, many problems have been detected," Syangbo said. "This, and the lack of cooperation from the old committee, makes us suspect embezzlement. The administration should investigate."

Meanwhile, Chief District Officer Shrawan Kumar Pokharel told The Rising Nepal that the old committee, registered under the Associations Registration Act 1977, would immediately be instructed to hold the general assembly. Similarly, he said that another auditor would be appointed, in addition to the one appointed by the rural municipality, and the committee would be asked to release the report published by the two auditors. 

"The presence of two different bills for the same payment, the use of two receipts of the same number in the fiscal year, use of Tipp-Ex correction pens to white out information on bills and scribbles and crosses raise doubts," Syangbo stressed.