Suspended Chief Secretary Aryal transferred to NPC

Kathmandu, June 24: Suspended Chief Secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal has been transferred to the National Planning Commission (NPC). Today’s cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar decided to transfer Dr Aryal to the NPC by creating a special position of Gazetted Special Class as the Chief Secretary.

Dr Aryal was suspended after the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a corruption case against him at the Special Court on Sunday. He was automatically suspended from the post as per the existing laws after a case against him was filed. Saying no one should resign from the post or job if a case is filed against him/her, Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, shared that in case of suspension, a new chief secretary could not be appointed until the post becomes vacant.

The Acting Chief Secretary would carry out the works of the Chief Secretary for the time being and a special post was created for an outlet, she mentioned. Stating that the next decision would be carried out based on the verdict of the Special Court, Minister Sharma further said that the special post was created during the tenure of Dr Aryal and the post would be automatically dismissed after completion of Aryal’s tenure.

The meeting also decided to transfer the amount of financial equalization grant which was remaining to transfer to local levels in the current fiscal year, added the Communications Minister. Out of the Rs 87.35 billion amount allocated in the current fiscal year, a decision was taken to transfer the remaining Rs 16.99 billion to local levels.