Govt appoints new board member at NTA

KATHMANDU:

The government has appointed Tika Upreti as a new member of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) Board. He is vice-principal of Apex College, where Minister for Information and Communications Minendra Rijal has a share.

Rijal is also chairman of the college. Upreti was appointed member of the NTA Board last week based on the recommendation from the Communications Ministry. “Upreti has favour from the minister and it clearly shows how political favouritism works in the country,” said one of the eight applicants shortlisted for the interview.

What is interesting is that the committee that was assigned to interview the applicants also had a member from Apex College. According to the applicant, LP Bhanu Sharma, principal of Apex College, Acting Secretary of Communications Ministry Sunil Babu Malla, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Law and Justice Kamal Sali Ghimire, Joint Secretary of Communications Ministry Kabi Raj Khanal and former managing director of Nepal Telecom Gajendra Singh Bohara were in the interview committee.

Those who were selected for the interview included Tika Upreti, Deepak Raj Joshi, son of Nepali Congress leader Govinda Raj Joshi and Bishwa Nath Goel, former managing director of Nepal Telecom. Others who were called for the interview were Kailash Dev, Krishna Bahadur Ghimire, Naresh Goel, Badri Prasad Bastola and Bijay Ratna Sthapit. The applicants were selected based on educational qualifications and professional work experience of seven years.

After Upreti’s appointment, the NTA Board after long has got a full shape of five members. Digambar Jha, chairman of NTA said that even though the government appointed Upreti as a member of the board, the latter has not yet attended any board meeting. “As per the existing provision, he first needs to get an appointment letter from the Communications Ministry,” he added.

Two years ago, Jha’s appointment had also been mired in controversy after which cases against Jha’s appointment were filed at the Supreme Court (SC).

Last month, the SC upheld his appointment validating the government decision. Goel, who had also applied for the post of chairman, had filed a case against Jha’s appointment.

Going by the Telecommunication Act 1997, NTA board shall comprise five members, including the chairman, who are qualified and experienced, as prescribed in the technical and administrative, market management, accounts and auditing or legal fields relating to the telecommunications service. Upreti has been appointed after a third round of vacancy notices.

As per the criteria set for the post, the selected candidates had to have educational background of at least bachelor’s level with work experience of seven years. Similarly, they had been asked to submit a ‘vision paper’ on effective management and operations of telecommunication services by also identifying existing problems to be selected for the interview phase.

Source: THT