Kathmandu, 22 May: The Supreme Court’s directive regarding the formation of the National Cooperative Regulatory Authority has been violated. Although the court set a clear timeline for the formation of a recommendation committee to select the authority’s chairperson and to complete the appointment, the government has not formed the committee as required.
On Baisakh 29 (May 11), a joint bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Nityananda Pandey of the Supreme Court issued a mandamus order to the government, instructing it to form the recommendation committee within one week and establish the authority within one and a half months. The committee should have been formed by last Sunday, but the government has yet to do so.
According to the Cooperative Regulatory Authority Act, the recommendation committee must include the chairperson of the Public Service Commission (or someone appointed by them) as coordinator, along with a former secretary and an expert from the cooperative sector. The Cabinet must approve the formation of this committee.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, Ganesh Prasad Bhatt, said that the ministry had already forwarded the names of three members to the Cabinet last Thursday in line with the court order. The proposed names were: Chairperson of the Public Service Commission Madhav Regmi as coordinator, former secretary Suman Sharma, and cooperative expert Gunanidhi Bhusal as members. The ministry’s intent in sending the names by Thursday was to ensure the committee was formed within the one-week deadline set by the court.
Normally, Cabinet meetings are held on Mondays and Thursdays. Since the one-week deadline would end by Monday, the ministry submitted the names accordingly. However, the Cabinet did not make a decision on the matter that Thursday. Another Cabinet meeting was held last Tuesday, during which the Cabinet recommended a new Governor for Nepal Rastra Bank and made nine other decisions—but did not approve the formation of the recommendation committee.
The previous winter session of Parliament had amended the law to allow the formation of the authority with jurisdiction over cooperative institutions across federal, provincial, and local levels. Initially, under an ordinance, the selection committee was to include a former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. However, the committee could not be formed because former governors declined to join, citing the nature of the position.
In the replacement bill later introduced by the government, this provision was revised to include a former secretary instead of a former governor. The ordinance was passed by both houses of Parliament in Chaitra (March). Currently, the authority has only three members: Madan Koirala, a joint secretary representing the ministry; Guru Prasad Paudel, executive director of Nepal Rastra Bank; and Kedar Nath Sharma, secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives, who is currently serving as acting chair.
Although the Cooperative Act envisions the authority as an autonomous and structured institution, its current status has led to criticism that it is merely functioning under the shadow of the government. Senior Advocate Surendra Bhandari had filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding a prompt appointment of the authority’s chairperson. Responding to this, the court had issued an order to complete the appointment process within one and a half months—meaning by the second week of Asar (late June), the appointment must be finalized.
