Kathmandu. The Board of Directors of Nepal Insurance Authority (NEA) is gradually falling vacant. The policy decisions of the NRA have been stalled due to the post of chairperson of the NRA becoming vacant time and again after two chairpersons of the Authority were forced to leave before the completion of their term.
Among the three members of the five-member board of directors, Santosh Rijal, an insured representative, has retired from the NEA on December 3 after completing his four-year term. As per the provision of the Insurance Act, 2049 BS, the cabinet had appointed Rijal to the Board of Directors of NEA on December 3, 2021 as the representative of the insured.
After Rijal’s departure, the board of directors of NEA is now limited to two members. Since the decision has to be taken by a majority of the board of directors for policy decisions, there is no real meaning of having a two-member board of directors.
Currently, Janak Raj Sharma is the acting chairman of the NRA as the representative of the Ministry of Finance. Man Bahadur Aryal, a representative of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, is the only member of the board of directors of the NRA.
Two presidents date
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Sharad Ojha, who was appointed by the Council of Ministers as per the provisions of the Insurance Act, 2079, is scheduled to appear before the Supreme Court. The controversy has escalated after he went to the Supreme Court against the cabinet’s decision to sack him. The case against him is also sub-judice at the Supreme Court over his lack of work experience for the post of chairman.
Insurance Authority Chairman Ojha relieved of his post a month after suspension
Surya Prasad Silwal, who was the president before Ojha, has also not been able to live a happy life after retirement. They are forced to go to court in corruption cases. Silwal’s case came to the fore after he moved the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Special Court for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on the charge of forgery, holding public post even after the mandatory retirement age and corruption.
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Radha Kumari Pokharel, who was embroiled in controversy after being appointed as the director of NEA, also resigned from the board of directors. Although she did not have any experience working in the insurance sector, she was appointed as a director by wearing the turban of an insurance expert. Although it is claimed that she resigned due to personal reasons, she has left due to fear of action against her after the government started investigating and taking action against Ojha.
Insurance Authority’s board becomes ‘vacuum’, term of insured representative ends
What is the legal system?
According to Clause 6 of the Insurance Act, 2079, the board of directors of NEA will be 5 members. The committee consists of a chairperson, a joint secretary level representative each from the Ministry of Finance and Law, life insurance experts and non-life insurance experts. Sub-clause 2 of Section 6 states that one out of five persons must be a woman.
Although the Council of Ministers has not made political appointments to the post of chairman to give an outlet to the entire insurance sector along with the Insurance Authority, it should not delay in appointing at least two directors including a woman.
The issue of not having to take a policy decision to give prior approval to the insurer has also been kept pending with the Authority since last September. On the other hand, when the board of directors is incomplete, the authority will not be able to take important decisions to approve the actuarial report and the report of the board of directors.
What does the Insurance Authority say?
Executive Director and Spokesperson of the Authority, Sushil Dev Subedi, said that they have already sent letters to the Financial Sector Management and Corporation Coordination Division of the Ministry of Finance twice about the vacant representatives in the board of directors. “One letter was sent after Radha Kumari Pokharel tendered her resignation while another letter was sent 2-3 days before Santosh Rijal’s term expires,” Subedi said, adding that the process to appoint a vacant representative at the NRA was underway. Chairman Janak Raj Sharma is also coordinating with the Division in this regard. ’
He said that there is a problem only to advance policy issues in the absence of representatives in the board of directors. “Other works of the NRA will be done by the chairperson,” he said.
