While the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee has remained undecided about whether to endorse Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Sharma for the position of Chief Justice, lawmakers from the ruling party have claimed they have collected more documents to prove that Joshee’s academic credentials were forged. But, the main opposition party Nepali Congress is about to defend Joshee’s nomination. Therefore, the issue continues to be the most highlighted topic on the front pages of major Nepali and English newspapers published from Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Some other political, sociocultural and economic issues have also made it to the front pages of major broadsheets.
Important
‘More evidence’ against Joshee
Kantipur, Nagarik, Naya Patrika and Republica have informed that ruling party lawmakers have said they have collected additional evidence to prove errors in academic certificates of Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshee as the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee is all set to make a decision today.
Rajdhani reports that the ruling Nepal Communist Party and the main opposition Nepali Congress are at odds over the endorsement. Therefore, The Kathmandu Post reports that the Committee is likely to settle the issue through voting as the main opposition party, Nepali Congress, is preparing to defend him. Kantipur reports that whereas the NCP wants to reject his nomination, the Congress party wants further delay in the decision. Therefore it may boycott the Committee’s meeting or press for the formation of a subpanel for further probe.
Meanwhile, Joshee held a meeting with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli yesterday, “seeking early resolutions of the controversy surrounding his hearing,” The Himalayan Times reports in the lead story.
Amendments filed in line with agreement with Dr KC
Gorkhapatra and The Kathmandu Post have reported that the ruling Nepali Communist Party on Tuesday registered amendments to the National Medical Education Bill, currently being discussed by Parliament. The amendments are necessary to implement the agreement the government signed with medical education reform activist Dr Govinda KC around one week ago.
Three lawmakers of the party filed the amendments seeking revisions on 22 provisions of the bill, according to Gorkhapatra. The Kathmandu Post explains, “Major provisions of the agreement include a 10-year moratorium on establishment of new medical colleges in Kathmandu Valley, barring one university from affiliating more than five medical colleges and requiring a medical college to run a hospital for three years before claiming affiliation.”
Ignored
Narayan Kaji Shrestha resigns from NCP spokesperson
Naya Patrika reports in a snippet that ruling Nepal Communist Party’s spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha has resigned from the position after two party chairmen—KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal—have expressed dissatisfaction over his act of meeting fasting medical education reform activist Dr Govinda KC some days ago.
As Oli sought clarification from Shrestha for meeting the activist, Shrestha announced his resignation and walked out of the meeting of the party’s Secretariat last Saturday, according to the report.
Modi will visit Nepal again later this month
A three-page box story in Annapurna Post reports that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to pay a visit to Kathmandu once against in the last week of this month. It will be Modi’s second visit to Nepal, and fourth once he took the charge of the premiership in 2014.
Modi will come to Nepal for the fourth summit of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. Meanwhile, heads of state or government from other member countries will also join the meeting.
Govt to revise retirement age
The anchor story in The Himalayan Times reports that the government is soon ending different standards of retirement age as they are in practice today and make it uniform at 60 years.
The draft of Federal Civil Service Bill has already been prepared by the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, the report informs, adding at present civil servants retire at the age of 58, health professionals and parliamentary staff retire at the age of 60. Likewise, teachers retire at the age of 63 and court staff at the age of 65.
Interesting
All wild animals will get ‘protected’ status now
The government is preparing to annul existing wildlife conservation law and implement a new one, which will give the protected status to all wild animals living in the country, according to Nepal Samacharpatra lead story.
The existing law, however, has a limited number of protected animals including 27 mammals, nine birds and three reptiles. Researches have confirmed that there are 212 mammal, 887 bird, 140 reptile and 55 amphibian animals in the country.
