Cabinet forms committee to study TU’s land encroachment

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jun,1 : The government has formed a five-member committee headed by former secretary Sharada Prasad Trital to conduct a detailed study and recommend concrete suggestions regarding the encroachment of land that lawfully belonged to Tribhuvan University. 

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held in Singha Durbar on Thursday decided to form the committee to study and investigate the encroached land registered in the name of Tribhuvan University. 

“In the first phase, the committee has been given the responsibility to conduct the study of TU’s land within the Kathmandu Valley,” said Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma at a press conference organised to make the Cabinet decisions public on Friday.

Former joint secretaries Mahendra Kumar Thapa and Janaki Ballav Adhikari, and Prof. Dr. Premsagar Chapagain are members of the committee.  An Under Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will work as its member secretary. 

According to Minister Sharma, the committee has been suggested to submit a concrete report on plots of land owned by Tribhuvan University in the Valley and the structures built on the land. Coordinator Trital is the former bureaucrat who led the investigation team on Lalita Niwas land of  Baluwatar of Kathmandu. 

Likewise, the Cabinet meeting has approved the visit of the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balendra Shah (Balen) to Singapore. Mayor Shah is attending the ninth World Cities Summit in Singapore from June 2 to 4. 

The meeting also decided to approve the visit of the Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr. Meen Bahadur Shrestha, to participate in the 48th meeting of the Colombo Plan in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, from May 30 to 31.

Similarly, on the proposal of the Prime Minister’s Office, the meeting  approved the visit of Dr. Araniko Kumar Pandey, a member of the National Planning Commission, to participate in the Expert Dialogue on Mountain and Climate Change programme under the UN Climate Conference in Bonn, Germany, from June 3 to 7.

Similarly, the Cabinet approved the visit of the team led by Attorney General Dr. Dinmani Pokharel to participate in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Bogata, Colombia, from June 1 to 6.

The meeting also decided to allow Auditor General Toyam Raya to participate in the Leadership Forum on Raising the Profile of Performance Audits for SAI Leaders and Stakeholders organised by the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines, from June 3 to 4.

Likewise, the meeting decided not to allow individuals to carry licensed weapons outside without obtaining a travel permit from the local administration office.

The meeting has decided to appoint joint secretary Taradatta Bhatt as the executive director of Nepal Accreditation Centre on the proposal of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, while Vice Chancellor of Tribhuvan University Prof. Dr. Kesharjung Baral has been nominated as a member of University Grants Commission.

The meeting also decided to appoint seven government employees as Gazetted first-class Joint Secretaries or similar posts of various service groups as per the recommendation of the Public Service Commission. 

The government has approved to use the public land in Banepa Municipality areas to construct a 15-bed hospital in Kavrepalanchok.