Good morning!
Here’s a quick summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from Thursday to kickstart your Friday.
Important
High court tells district court to issue verdict on Mahara trial in one month
While upholding the Kathmandu District Court’s order to keep former speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara in judicial custody while the trial over an attempt to rape charge on him is underway, the High Court in Patan has also told the district court to conclude the trial and issue the final verdict within the next month. A division bench of judges Nahakul Subedi and Tek Narayan Kunwar observes that the case’s nature demands a continuous and speedy hearing as per the criminal justice law.
The bench on Thursday had heard Mahara’s appeal that he be released while the trial is underway.
Deuba-Paudel conflict narrowed down to solving NSU crisis
The two factions of Nepali Congress–led by president Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel–has now been narrowed down to forming an ad hoc committee of the party’s student wing, Nepal Students Union. Representatives of Deuba and Paudel held a meeting at Prakash Man Singh’s house in Chaksibari on Thursday also to discuss the issues.
Pro-Paudel leader Hridaya Ram Thani, who participated in the meeting, says the two sides could not agree on which side will get the presidency of the union and the number of general secretaries.
Ignored
CIB gets additional one month to probe Lalita Niwas land grab case
It has been almost 10 months since the government assigned the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police to investigate into the Lalita Niwas land grab case. However, the CIB has not concluded the probe.
Therefore, the government decided to give an additional three months to carry out the investigation, according to the government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota.
This is the fourth time the government extended the deadline for the assignment.
Nepali Congress wants Parliament to endorse MCC deal
While the ruling Nepal Communist Party seems divided over endorsing the Millennium Challenge Corporation deal signed between governments of Nepal and the United States, the main opposition Nepali Congress has demanded that Parliament approve the deal of receiving 500 million USD as a grant from the US as soon as possible.
A meeting of the Congress parliamentary party held on Thursday decided to draw the government’s attention towards the delay in the deal’s implementation, according to the party’s whip Pushpa Bhusal. The Congress party was leading the government while the deal was signed.
Meanwhile, the party also decided to question Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli about the efforts of the government towards resolving the border dispute with India.
Interesting
Some people refuse recruitment after passing PSC exams. Why?
Whereas thousands of applicants get disappointed when the Public Service Commission publishes its exam results for the recruitment in a few hundred positions, government officials have also found that some applicants refuse the government’s lucrative job offer after passing highly competitive exams.
Mahendra Guragain, a secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, narrates that a person from Dhading district passed eight exams in a span of several years, but never accepted the offer. Later, it was learned that he used to leave the position for an alternative candidate by demanding a huge amount from the second candidate. Guragain, however, laments that the government cannot take action against such people for the lack of legal provisions and evidence to prove the foul play.
