Aryal appointed Chief Secretary

Kathmandu, Aug. 30: The government has appointed Home Secretary Eaknarayan Aryal to the post of the Chief Secretary. He will succeed Lila Devi Gadtaula who is retiring on August 31 on the age ground. 

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar on Thursday decided to appoint Aryal to the top post of civil service.

Talking to journalists after the Cabinet meeting in Singha Durbar, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung informed that the government appointed Secretary Aryal to the post of the Chief Secretary.  “Before the mandatory retirement of current Chief Secretary Lila Devi Gadtaula, the government appointed Aryal as the Chief Secretary on Thursday,” said Minister Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson. 

Gadtaula, appointed on July 25 as Chief Secretary, is the first female Chief Secretary in Nepal.

 Dr. Toya Narayan Gyawali and Dinesh Bhattarai were other contenders for the position of the Chief Secretary. The new Chief Secretary hails from Syangja. He joined the Civil Service as a Nayab Subba in January 1990. Similarly, Dinesh DC has been appointed to the post of the Chairman of the Film Development Board, according to Minister Gurung.

For the appointment of the Chairman of the Board, names of three were recommended in the Cabinet meeting. According to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, along with DC’s, names of Deepa Pandey and Rajesh Thapa were also recommended. Actress Karishma Manandhar had also applied for the position in the Board. However, she was not among the shortlisted candidates.A total of six applications were accepted for the position including those of Prakash Bhattarai and Arjun Kumar Dangol. 

Likewise, the government decided to renew Ncell’s license by imposing an annual interest rate of 10 per cent on the pending renewal fee.

Minister Gurung said that the decision included allowing the company to pay renewal fee in four installments. He said that the renewal of Ncell’s mobile license has been decided on the condition that Ncell would pay Rs. 20 billion fee in four installments with interest. Accordingly, Ncell’s mobile license will be renewed only after the first installment is paid, said Minister Gurung. 

Ncell had requested a five-year period with five installments for the renewal of its third license. Meanwhile, Nepal Telecom paid its pending Rs. 20 billion renewal fee, which was due five years ago, only in April this year without any interest or penalties.