Kathmandu. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has been without a governor for the past one month. A governor’s appointment is a political appointment. Acting Governor Neelam Dhungana Timsina has stalled the appointment of the governor due to other interests in politics.
With the retirement of Maha Prasad Adhikari on April 23, the Rastra Bank has been headed by acting Governor Neelam. The governor’s post has been lying vacant for more than a month due to Neelam. In the meantime, the government has repeatedly tried to appoint the governor, but the appointment has not been made due to Neelam’s stubbornness.
According to the NRB Act, the governor has to be appointed a month before the post of governor falls vacant. However, Neelam has become an obstacle as the government is trying to appoint a governor late.
Executive Directors Prakash Kumar Shrestha and Gunakar Bhatta had resigned from their posts while they were in the race for the post of Governor. However, their resignation has not been accepted by Neelam.
The incumbent has the authority to accept the resignation. However, Neelam has not accepted bhatta’s resignation to prevent him from becoming governor. She has also said that she will not allow them to become governors.
A few days ago, Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel had formally requested Neelam to accept Bhatta’s resignation. But she denied it.
Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had recently reached an agreement to appoint Bhatta as governor. After the same agreement, Neelam has made a mistake in the appointment of the governor.
In the past, Oli wanted Neelam to be the governor. However, he agreed to make Bhatta governor after the ruling coalition collapsed. In the meantime, Neelam had increased pressure from various interest groups to make herself governor. However, bhatta did not accept the resignation of the executive director after the government announced that she would be made the governor.
At present, the country has proved weak in money laundering and corruption prevention and is in the grey list. The country has been placed in the grey list due to the large amount of money being transacted in the appointment of leaders, money laundering and investing in other countries and black marketing. The role of the governor is important to get rid of such a situation. However, the government has not been able to appoint a governor. Instead of appointing a governor, the government is trying to negotiate for appointment.
There has been a lot of debate in political circles that interest groups and business middlemen are dominating to facilitate the government’s repeated push for the governor’s post.
The country is in the process of budget making. In this situation, the leadership of the Rastra Bank should make important suggestions for the budget. However, there is no leadership in the central bank to give suggestions. Neelam Dhungana has taken over as the acting governor, but she cannot fully work. On top of this, she herself is an aspirant for the governor’s post, so she has stopped the policy work to be done by the central bank.
With Bhatta more likely to become the governor, it seems that the governor will now be determined by whose names the recommendation committee will recommend. However, experts say that the appointment of the governor will be extended for a few more days.
At present, there is pressure on the government to appoint a governor on behalf of the Congress. Therefore, the NC can make Bhatta in the first option, Gyanendra Dhungana in the second and someone else in the third. When the political course changes, the UML seems to have promoted Neelam as governor. Prakash Kumar Shrestha is also the uml’s choice. But now deuba has gone one step ahead to make Bhatta the governor, so there is no need to go back.
