NOC management accused of ignoring board´s decisions

KATHMANDU, March 2:

The management of Nepal Oil Corporation, which is drawing flak from all quarters for its inability to punish people involved in oil theft and to ease supply of liquefied petroleum (LP) gas, has been found dilly-dallying on implementing number of key decisions taken by its board of directors (BoD).

Officials of Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) as well as members of BoD told Republica that the management´s failure to implement key decisions has not only deteriorated NOC´s image but also affecting its financials.

According to sources, NOC management failed to implement more than three dozen decisions taken by the board over the past two years. Some of the decisions include enforcement of new standards for petrol pumps in the Kathmandu Valley, replacement of tankers that are more than 10 years old, implementation of 20-point suggestions given by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), installation of Global Positioning System (GPS) device on tankers. Similarly, the management has also not responded to a show cause notice on promotion of staffers carried out in different phases.

"The NOC management is biased. It is implementing only the decisions that are beneficial for the top officials," an official of MoCS told Republica. “There is no point taking important decisions (from the board), if the management does nothing to implement them."

Under pressure from top-level officials of MoCS, the management is finding it difficult to implement the board´s decision, a board member of NOC told Republica. "NOC has failed to perform as an individual entity which is a serious case," the board member added.

Deepak Subedi, spokesperson of MoCS and also an NOC board member, blamed misunderstanding between NOC board and the management for non-implementation of the board´s decision. "The previous management was reluctant to implement the board´s decision. It was acting against the spirit of the board," he charged. "If the management had acted as per the board´s decision, the market would not have faced acute shortage of LP gas.”

Source: Republica