Unresolved court case hinders PE Board's work

KATHMANDU:

The Public Enterprises (PE) Board has not been able to initiate the process of selecting chief executives at various state-owned firms lately due to a court case that

has been dragging on for the last three months.

The Supreme Court, on September 5, had asked the PE Board to halt the selection process of chief executives through open competition until another order is issued. The decision was taken based on a petition filed by one Binit Kumar Singh, who had demanded that the government hand-pick chief executives of public enterprises as in the past rather than through open competition.

“We want the court to put the case on the fast track so that we do not become victims of indecision,” PE Board chief Bimal Wagle said.

The board, so far, had not made any comment in this regard due to the introduction of a code of conduct by the Election Commission, which barred government bodies from transferring or recruiting new staff until the polls ended on November 19.

“But since the election is now over we want a court decision at the earliest. If the verdict is in our favour we will start doing our job of recommending names for the post of

chief executives at different state-owned firms. If not we will think of other measures that need to be taken,” Wagle said.

Since its establishment in December 2011, the PE Board, a body originally formed to monitor, supervise and regulate all state-owned firms, has recommended names for

the post of chief executive at 12 public enterprises, ranging from Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) to Beema Sansthan.

To start the selection process the board first issues a public notice calling on interested candidates to file applications. The board then shortlists candidates for the post of chief at public enterprises using indicators like personal qualification and experience, quality of business plan, face-to-face interview and leadership capability.

These indicators are given different weightages based on which scores of each applicant are derived.

The task of tallying the scores is conducted by a committee, formed under the chief of the Public Service Commission (PSC) or someone appointed by the head of the PSC.

The committee then shortlists the names of the three best candidates and forwards them to the government for final approval.

Source: THT