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VOL. 27, NO. 35, May 16, 2008 (Jestha 01 2065 B.S.)
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PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA who is also the officiating head of the state has summoned the Constituent Assembly (CA) to meet on May 28. He has called the meeting of CA as per the interim constitution which says that the first meeting of CA should be called within 21 days of publication of final election results. The PM has called the first meeting on 11 am of May 28. The first meeting is expected to implement the declaration of republic. Meanwhile, taskforce of seven party alliance is doing its homework on pro-tem procedures and regulations in the run up to the meeting, which will be held at Birendra International Convention Center (BICC).
THE NEPAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY (NEA) has reduced load shedding hours after water level in rivers have increased resulting in greater generation of power. The weekly 21 hours of load shedding will now decrease to 10 hours. However, the NEA has not formally announced this reduction because the 60 MW strong Khimti project will shut down its operations for three weeks beginning Sunday for maintenance. This could increase the load shedding hours.
OVER A HUNDRED DOMESTIC ORGANIZATIONS could disqualify for future election observation missions in Nepal for failing to submit their preliminary reports, Election Commission sources said on Sunday. The EC directive for the observers states that those organizations which have received EC accreditation as observers should submit their preliminary reports within 15 days of polls and detailed reports within three months. But according to the EC record, only 13 domestic bodies and five international bodies have submitted their preliminary reports to the EC till the date. In total, there were 178 organizations accredited to observe the election. Over 60,000 domestic observers from 148 organizations and 856 international observers from 30 organizations were assigned duty to observe the historic election. Commissioner Dr Ayodhi Prasad Yadav said those organizations, which have failed to submit their reports, would be black-listed and their applications to observe any future elections would be rejected. "We are making a list of the organizations that failed to meet the EC directive," he said, adding that the EC was not going to request them to submit their reports. Yadav also said the organizations violated the EC directives by ignoring their responsibility to send reports. "It is their duty to submit reports. We had told this to them while awarding them accreditation," he said. An officer at EC said the 18 reports submitted by the observers hardly had anything new that has not already been reported by the media. "The EC would soon study the reports and classify them," the officer said. "It is difficult to understand why those organizations are not submitting their reports," he said.
THE NUMBER OF NEPALIS GOING ABROAD FOR JOBS has significantly risen in the past nine months as compared to the same period last fiscal year. According to the Department of Labour and Employment Promotion, 223,000 youths left the country for work in different countries, especially the Gulf, by mid April. Last year, 142,600 Nepalis had gone to foreign countries. However, the month of Chaitra (mid March to mid April) saw downward trend with just 12,000 people going abroad in search of work while the number in the same period last year was 21,000. Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and UAE were the chosen destinations for Nepali job-seekers this year, too. Department officials say that cases of fraud have also grown as the foreign employment 'enterprise' continues to thrive. The department has registered 314 complaints, almost all of them related to fraud by agents, in the past nine months. Officials admit that many cases of fraud do not come into the sight of concerned government authorities due to the largely unregulated manpower business and lack of knowledge on the part of foreign employment seekers.
THE SUPREME COURT on Tuesday (May 6) rejected a plea by French lawyer Isabelle Coutant Peyre to defend Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj during the court proceedings. A division bench of Justices Min Bahadur Rayamajhi and Kalyan Shrestha rejected the French lawyer's request, which was made during on Tuesday's hearing. "The bench rejected her request saying that there is no such precedence here," Raja Ram Dhakal, Sobhraj's Nepali lawyer said. The bench, however, said a foreign lawyer could assist Nepali lawyers in any case. Former Attorney General Badri Bahdur Karki, senior advocate Basanta Ram Bhandari and advocate Dhakal defended Sobhraj during Tuesday's hearing on fake passport case. Sobhraj's counsel argued that the chargesheet against Sobhraj was silent on any offence under the Act Relating to Foreigners-1958 and the related regulation, so the charge of fake passport against Sobhraj was improper. They also argued that the apex court order to reopen the fake passport case against Sobhraj was baseless. The lawyers claimed that there was no evidence to prove his presence in the country in 1975.
