Kathmandu. A meeting of the Council of Ministers was held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Monday. The meeting was discussing the appointment of the vacant chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal. However, the meeting did not take any decision regarding the appointment of the chairman of the Securities Board.
The government had formed a recommendation committee under the coordination of National Planning Commission (NPC) vice-chairman Dr Gunakar Bhatta for the appointment of the chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). The committee also asked for personal details for the chairman. A total of 47 people submitted their personal details to the committee.
Dr Gopal Bhatta, brother of Bhatta, the coordinator of the committee, has submitted his personal details. He is also the former Executive Director of Nepal Rastra Bank. Bhatta resigned from his post and appointed Dr Sanjay Acharya as the coordinator of the committee. It was reported that Gunakar Bhatta was pressuring his brother Gopal Bhatt to be included in the shortlist. It was also widely criticized.
On the other hand, Mukunda Bahadur Chhetri is among those who have submitted their personal details to become the chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal. He was a director of the Securities Board of Nepal when Ramesh Hamal was the chairman. At that time, Chhetri was widely discussed in the market to shoulder with Chairman Hamal to bring irregularities in the Securities Board.
Meanwhile, the recommendation committee did not make the names of 47 people public and included only four names in the shortlist and recommended them to the Ministry of Finance. Bhatta and Chhetri, former executive director of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) Dr Nawaraj Adhikari and incumbent executive director Binay Dev Acharya were also on the shortlist.
The Ministry of Finance had recommended the names of 3 out of these 4 to the Council of Ministers. “The agenda of appointing the chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal was presented in the cabinet meeting on Monday,” a source said, “However, due to reports in the market, Prime Minister Balen Shah has taken a stand that none of the recommended candidates will be appointed to the chairman.” After that, the appointment of the chairman of the Securities Board could not be decided. ’
According to sources, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has tried to convince the Prime Minister that the committee has recommended the name for the post of chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal in an impartial manner. “But Prime Minister Shah was not convinced. He has suggested to Finance Minister Wagle to re-study the personal details of all the 47 candidates and recommend the names of qualified and capable people. He is in favour of not allowing the government led by him to be defamed like the previous governments led by the UML and Congress. He doesn’t want the government’s decision to be controversial. ’
A senior official of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) also says that a person who understands the market and can work in the Securities Board should be the chairman. “The Securities Board of India (SEBI) has gained a bad reputation because of the working style of past presidents. “The market regulator has been accused of various allegations because of one person,” the official said, “Therefore, this time the Balen-led government should be wise and send a qualified person as the chairman.” ’
The official also suggested that the post of chairman should not be kept vacant for a long time. “Yesterday, there was talk that the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) would appoint the chairman but the appointment was not made,” the official said, adding, “It is heard that Prime Minister Shah has refused to appoint a person recommended by Finance Minister Wagle to the post of chairman.” However, due to the absence of the chairman for a long time, the work of taking policy decisions of the Securities Board has been stalled. Administrative work has also slowed down. Therefore, the government should appoint a chairman as soon as possible. ’
