All major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu Valley on Sunday have given priority to a host of different issues from political, sociocultural and financial spheres. Some newspapers have highlighted that the Nepali Congress is preparing to launch a strong protest against the ruling Nepal Communist Party demanding that either the speaker or the deputy speaker of House of Representatives, and either the chair or the vice chair of National Assembly resign. Some other newspapers have given the top priority to the delay the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee has made in deciding whether to endorse the name of Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshee for the vacant position of Chief Justice. The Meteorological Forecasting Division’s prediction that major parts of the country may receive rainfall till Monday has also been highlighed on the front pages of some newspapers.
Important
Deepak Raj Joshee’s certificate controversy
Kantipur, Gorkhapatra and The Kathmandu Post report on their front pages that the Parliamentary Hearing Committee has delayed making decision on whether to endorse or reject the name of Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshee for the position of Chief Justice, apparently after different data were found on his academic certificates.
According to Gorkhapatra, another person who passed the secondary level examination together with Joshee has claimed that his and Joshee’s symbol number is same.
It reports that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has also been informed about the controversy. Kantipur adds that the delay in decision making has given a space to people to play for or against Joshi’s name.
The Kathmandu Post, however, has a different explanation for the delay. It says that the ruling parties have been delaying the decision looking for a strong commitment from Joshee that unwarranted interventions in various decisions of the government will stop.
Nepali Congress to ‘strongly’ demand resignation of speaker or deputy
The Himalayan Times and The Kathmandu Post report on their front pages that the main opposition party Nepali Congress is preparing to launch a strong protest programme against the ruling Nepal Communist Party demanding that either the speaker or the deputy speaker of House of Representatives, and either the chair or the deputy chair of National Assembly resign at the earliest.
The Kathmandu Post explains that Article 91(2) of the constitution has a provision that the two top positions of the House should be held by lawmakers of different parties. But now, such positions of both houses of the Federal Parliament and six of seven provincial assemblies are held by the NCP leaders. The ruling party, however, claims that they represented different parties—the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre—when they were elected. The two parties had merged a couple of months ago.
Meanwhile, Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has stressed internal unity of the party against authoritarianism, reports Gorkhapatra from Nawalparasi.
Ignored
UN urges Nepal to shut down North Koreans’ businesses
Karobar reports in its lead story that the United Nations has ‘directed’ the government of Nepal to shut down all businesses operated by North Korean nationals in the country. The Coordinator of United Nations Security Council Panel of Experts has written a letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting the government to shut down all business owned by North Korean nationals.
The global organisation has strongly urged the government to compulsorily implement the directive.
Jumla local leaders still practise untouchability
The lead story in Rajdhani reports that officials of Tatopani Rural Municipality in Jumla district of Karnali Province have been found practising untouchability till now as they reportedly denied drinking water and other foods touched by their Dalit colleagues. Dalit leaders have complained that people from ‘high-caste’ Bahun and Chhetri communities still discriminate against them.
Dissatisfaction in NCP over statute
Key leaders of the Nepal Communist Party have removed some old provisions from the new statute of the party related to tenure of office bearers and age bar and it has angered some leaders of the party including members of its secretariat and standing committee, according to the anchor story of The Himalayan Times.
The report explains that the revised party statute has not fixed the tenure of leaders in the party structure, enabling top brass to retain their posts for as long as they want.
Interesting
PM preparing report cards of ministers
Apparently alarmed by heavy public criticism from various corners, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has begun monitoring activities of all ministers. In this context, Oli’s team is evaluating performance of the Cabinet members and categorising them into red, yellow and green zones, reports Naya Patrika in its lead story.
Those in the red zone are at the risk of losing jobs anytime whereas the Prime Minister has been closely looking at the performance of those at the yellow zone. Likewise, the Prime Minister is satisfied with the ministers who have been put in the green zone.
