Seven Former ministers still ‘occupying’ govt quarters !

KATHMANDU, July 10: There are government quarters at Pulchowk, Lalitpur , which are meant for the residential purpose for  the ministers of the federal Cabinet. 

The KP-Oli led Cabinet has only five members including four ministers. However, if you manage to cross the police guard  and make it to the minister's residence in Pulchowk, you can still see dozens of 'honorable ministers'.

The security guards at the main gate of the minister's quarters are busy inspecting the relatives and allowing their entry into the residential area. 

The crowd inside the minister's quarters, the noise and the clothes on balconies indicate that there are still dozens of ‘serving’ ministers in the country.

Following the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR), the Supreme Court issued an interim order that a caretaker prime minister can expand his/her Cabinet, leaving the Cabinet extension on June 3 and 10, inapplicable. The ministers were relieved from their ministerial portfolios. Singha Durbar, where most ministries are located,  has been left deserted, but the minister's residence  is still ‘vibrant’.

Hearing the writ petition filed by senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi, the apex court, on June 22, annuled the expansion of Cabinet by KP Sharma Oli in his capacity as the caretaker prime minister. A division bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR and Justice Prakash Kumar Dhungana ordered that the twenty ministers including 11 those from the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) be relieved of their positions as Cabinet members.

Although the ministers were dismissed from their posts following the court order, some ministers are still occupying the ministerial quarters. Former Health Minister Sher Bahadur Tamang, Agriculture and Livestock Development Minister Jwala Kumari Sah, Industry, Commerce and Supply Minister Raj Kishor Yadav, Women, Children and Senior Citizens Minister Chandakumari Chaudhary, Water and Sanitation Minister Anil Kumar Jha, Forest and Environment Minister Narad Muni Rana and Labor and Employment Minister Bimal Prasad Srivastava are among those who are yet to leave the ministerial quarters or inform the authorities concerned about their departure or hand over the government belongings.

According to the Office of Construction and Management of the Federal Secretariat, which is supposed to arrange quarters for the ministers, seven former ministers have not yet left the quarters. Some of them  have locked their belongings in the quarters, while some other ex ministers are staying with their relatives at the government quarters.

The Office of Construction and Management of the Federal Secretariat has provided C-5 to Jwala Kumari Shah, D-5 to Sher Bahadur Tamang, D-2 to Raj Kishor Yadav, A-5 to Chandakumari Chaudhary, A-4 to Anil Kumar Jha, C-4 to Naradmuni Rana and B-1 to Bimal Prasad Shrivastava. 

Although other ministers of the 20, who were ordered not to discharge their duties as the ministers, left the quarters immediately after the court’s order, these seven former ministers have not yet left the ministerial quarters.

Click here to read the news in detail.