In what may be dubbed as a breach of the constitutional provision, eight local governments of Province-2 have failed to convene the municipal assemblies raising questions over the legitimacy of their income and expenditure. More than this, such a tendency has cuckolded the common people, who actually had to be taken on board in development activity efforts.

Binu Subedi: Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal

Dayananda Goit, Chief, Balan-Bihul rural municipality

For Dayananda Goit, Chief of the Balan-Bihul rural municipality, flying to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, to participate in the Youth Health seminar in March 2019 was a promising opportunity.

As a local leader of the Upendra Yadav-led Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum party, this was a reasonable break for him since Yadav — the country’s Minister of Health — nominated his party cadre Goit for the international event.

It so happened that after returning from the international seminar, rather than focusing on his duties and responsibilities, Goit shifted his priorities. Perhaps, he wanted to payback the party chairman for providing him an opportunity. In fact, Goit was more a party cadre rather than a chief of the rural municipality.

He remained occupied in the party activities to appease the party leadership ignoring his duties and responsibilities rather than conducting the budget assembly of rural municipality until April 2019. In fact, he flouted the constitutional provision by failing to conduct the assembly before July 2018.

Consider what Rubi Gupta, deputy chief of the rural municipality, has to say: “Goit remains so occupied in his party tasks that convening the assembly has gone out of his mind.”

In fact, convening the budget assembly of the rural municipality is equally crucial as the federal and provincial budget session since all three levels of government are autonomous.

The local governments are required to conduct the assemblies in line with the working procedures of the federal parliament and the government. Unfortunately, the Balan-Bihul rural municipality flouted the guidelines.

Mahesh Yadav, executive officer of the rural municipality, expressed the worry for failing to allocate and disburse the annual budget for the current fiscal year since the representatives concerned could not convene the assembly. “The rural municipality board has to sanction the salary and allowances of the people’s representatives and the staffers,” he said. However, the representatives and the staffers have been receiving their salary and other allowances regularly without the consent of the board meeting notwithstanding the risks involved.

Balan-Bihul village rural municipality is currently reeling under lack of electricity facilities despite the fact that electrification of two villages was completed after the budget for the purpose was allocated in the last fiscal year. Failure to convene the assembly has shattered people’s aspirations of development activities in the village.

Goit, however, seems quite inconsiderate when asked the reason for failing to convene the budget session. “The reason is simple: It’s the lack of unanimity regarding the budget sharing for the wards.”

Ward chairpersons, meanwhile, allege Goit of imposing his monopoly rather than addressing the problems in budget disbursement.

Goit has been alleged of trying to squander the budget without holding the rural village municipal assembly. Says Surya Kumar Das, chairperson of ward-6 of the rural municipality, “This is entirely the weakness on the part of Goit. The past one year has been a complete waste. Goit has to take the responsibility.”

Rs 8 crores spent on salary, allowance

Interestingly, out of the total Rs 34 crores allocated for Debahi Gonahi municipality of Rautahat, only Rs 8 crores have been spent so far, that too in the name of salary and allowances of the staffers and representatives.

Development efforts are almost at snail’s pace because of the failure to convene the municipality session. Deputy Mayor of Debahi Gonahi Municipality, Paraniya Devi says, “We have not been able to convene the assembly because of disputes in budget allocation.”

This municipality, too, has been reeling under crunch of employees because of which people’s representatives were in a dilemma.

Meanwhile, collection of tax has been a Herculean task for this municipality. Instead of collecting tax from the contractors, the concerned representatives and authorities have been mute spectators while the former continue to excavate sands and gravels from the Bakaiya River.

Says Dharmendra Prasad Patel, Chief of the municipality, “We have not been able to hold the assembly since the ward chiefs have demanded a budget of one crore rupees each.”

The fate of the Fatuwa Bijaypur municipality is no different because of the partisan wrangling between municipality chief Gopal Ray Yadav representing the Nepali Congress and deputy chief Kantidevi representing the then Unified CPN-Maoist.

Serious rift between the two surfaced after Mayor Yadav shifted the office of the municipality unilaterally. Kuntidevi alleges Yadav of moving the office from ward no 8 to ward no 9 without her consent, which she argues is one of the reasons for the delay in holding the municipal assembly.

Currently, while the mayor’s office is on ward no 8, the office of the deputy mayor and other employees is located at ward 9 of the municipality.

The conflict is not a new affair for Yadav and Kuntidevi. The two were involved in wrangling on minor issues as soon as they assumed the posts. Despite this, they conducted the municipality assembly on May 12, 2018. However, chances of holding the budget assembly this year seems slim since Yadav is still skeptical about the date of the convention. “I can’t say outright when we will be able to conduct it,” he said.

Parwanipur Rural Municipality and Adarsh Kotwal Rural Municipality of Bara, too, share similar stories. Development works have been at a standstill. Parwanipur, which is the smallest village municipality in terms of the area, has been allocated a total of Rs. 34 crores for the current fiscal year.  

According to Hari Om Prasad, Chief Administrative Office, each ward is allocated Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 2 crores on the basis of work plan, and its population. However, the budget has not been used since the rural municipality assembly has not been convened. Chairperson of Parwanipur Rural Municipality Hari Narayan Sah argues, “We have not been able to hold the village municipal session since some of the members do not turn up.”

Adarsh Kotwal Rural Municipality of Bara district has an excuse – ward members do not stay in the district. Chief of the municipality Mustafa Ansari, too, has a reason behind the delay in calling the assembly: “In fact, we lack staffers.”

Deputy Chief Punam Devi Sah does not have any excuses. She alleges accountant Jay Prakash Mahato of being irregular to office. Moreover, she alleges him of not heeding to their demands for allocation of the budget to call the assembly.

Chairperson of ward no 6 Madhusudan Jaiswal, too, puts forth a reason for failing to convene the assembly. Initially, there were no employees. Later, chief administrative officer was transferred. “In fact, one of the reasons for the failure to call the assembly was due to the marriage ceremony of the rural village municipality chief’s daughter,” says Jaiswal.

Development works at a standstill

Interestingly, even though people’s representatives and staffers have been getting salary and other allowances on time, no visible development works have been in sight.

Out of the 17 local levels in Siraha district, two rural municipalities namely Bhagawanpur Rural Municipality and Anarma Rural Municipality – were yet to hold their conventions until May 2019 owing to internal wrangling seriously thus affecting the development projects.

The work of gravelling the section of the road from Bhagawatipur to the Indian border, which started in the last fiscal year, has been in limbo because of lack of budget in the absence of the budget session.

A total of Rs 45 lakhs was spent in the construction of Dhadi-Jhajpatti section of the road in Saraha district in the last fiscal year. Equal amount was expected to be allocated in the current fiscal year. However, since the representatives did not consider calling the municipal session, the budget for the same has not been disbursed yet. It’s in limbo.

Unfortunately, the rural municipalities have not even purchased necessary items such as medicines, which are supposed to be distributed for free. The rural municipality had earlier planned to purchase medicines worth Rs 17 lakhs.

Anarma rural municipality is reeling under the same fate. Even though a total of Rs 35 lakhs was allocated to construct a cause-way by installing Hume pipe at the road section between Arnama rural municipality to Brahmapuri rural municipality in the previous fiscal year, it could not be complete due to internal conflict among the people’s representatives coupled with the failure to conduct the assembly.

Interestingly, the representatives and staffers have been regularly receiving their salaries and other allowances on time.

Chief District Officer of Siraha district Rudra Prasad Pandit endeavored to settle the dispute of Bhagawanpur rural municipality agreeing on a six-point agreement on January 14, 2019. The employees received their salary and allowances on the basis of the agreement.

The assembly of Bhagawanpur Rural Municipality has not been conducted due to inter-party differences as the 13-member parliamentary executive body has 9 members from the then CPN-UML and 4 from the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum.

Chief of the Bhagawanpur Rural Municipality Bechan Yadav, who represents the Sanghiya Forum Party, admits of failing to conduct the assembly due to inter-party wrangling. He, however, says they have convened more than 23 meetings of the executive body. The employees of the municipality launched protest programs after they did not receive their salary and other allowances. They, however, withdrew their movement after the executive board agreed to pay their salary with CDO Pandit playing the role of a mediator. However, the meeting of the village municipality has not been convened yet.

Former Minister for General Administration, Ram Chandra Yadav, who is a local of the district, has been alleged of playing a key role to defer the budget assembly. Chairperson Yadav alleged him of provoking the ward chairpersons representing his party to keep on postponing the assembly resulting in forging consensus among the representatives.

“Since we do not have the majority, our voices are often ignored,” complains Yadav.

Meanwhile, the current expenditure has been ‘frozen’ since there has been no signs of conducting the budget session at the Arna Rural Municipality of Siraha district.

Chairperson of Arna-1 Gaffar Ansari alleges municipal chief Thakku Mahato of failing to hold the session. Mahato has also been alleged of trying to influence the political centers to transfer chief administrative officer Sumitra Lama from his municipality. Meanwhile, the development budget has not been utilized. Asked whether the budget session would be held in the near future, Mahato responds: “We are not in a hurry. Wait for some days.”

Convention after the stipulated time

Several local governments have deliberately delayed the assembly on the basis of political consensus. Chief of the Katariya municipality of Rautahat, Siya Ram Khasaha and deputy chief Nurjaha Khatun both represent the then Maoist party.

As per the Local Government Operation Act 2074, the deputy chief is required to prepare the budget and to present it in the municipal assembly. However, since the tasks have been accomplished without the presence of the deputy chief, the dispute has reached the court.

The municipality assembly held from March 15 to April 1 had allocated a budget of Rs 45 crore 31 lakh in the absence of deputy chief Khatun.

Opposing the move, she filed case at the Birgunj temporary bench of the Janakpur High Court on March 24, 2019. A joint bench of judges Satya Mohan Joshi Tharu and Madan Pokhrel on March 31, 2019 annulled the writ saying that such a case would only affect the development works.

Municipality chief Siyaram Khuswaha says they have launched development works by allocating Rs 45 lakhs in the last four months. Khuswaha has spent a jail-term on the murder case of president of World Hindu Council Kashi Tiwari.

While in jail, Khatun had endeavored to convene the assembly. However, alleging Khatun of misappropriating the budget, ward chairpersons had on Bhadra September 5, 2018 sent a letter to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration seeking her suspension.

The Chinnamasta Rural Municipality conducted its assembly on March 11, 2018 even though it was held much later than the stipulated time. A total of Rs 17 crore was allocated for the fiscal year 2076/77 for the purpose. The differences between the village municipality chief, deputy chief and ward chairperson had delayed the assembly.

While Chief of the rural municipality Surya Narayan Mandal ‘Kurud’ alleges deputy chief for the delay, the latter Usha Mandal accuses the chief of delaying the budget session.

While Mandal represents the Naya Shakti Party, deputy chief Mandal represents the Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP).

Mandal says the representatives agreed to conduct the session only after a budget of total Rs. 70 lakh was determined for the purpose.

Likewise, the Karaiyamai Rural Municipality held its budget session on February 26, 2018, which too, was held after the deadline. Chairperson Bhuneshwor Dhami has an excuse for the delay in conducting the session. “In fact, the transfer of an administrative officer delayed the process,” he argues.

On the other hand, chief administrative officer Shanker Bhusal claims since he joined the office only three months ago, it took him time to comprehend and analyze the income and expenditure, because of which the convention has been delayed.

Meanwhile, Kalimai Rural Municipality of Parsa held the budget session very recently in February owing to disputes on budget allocation between two sides – rural village municipality chief Nathuni Kushwaha, elected from Nepal Sanghiya Samajbadi Party and the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum.

The budget session was held after Khuswaha agreed to allocate Rs 90 lakhs and a Pulsar bike to each ward. “I had no other option,” Khuswaha says.

The budget session of the Gujara municipality was conducted after the stipulated time in January 2019 because of the political dispute between RJP and the then CPN-UML.

According to Chairperson Dipendra Panuhar, chairperson of ward no 9, the municipality disbursed a budget of Rs 1 crore 50 lakh to each ward in the last fiscal year. However, disputes arose when the municipality decided to allocate only Rs 50 lakhs to each ward. Ward chairpersons of all 9 wards has earlier demanded an annual budget of Rs 1 crore each. However, they allege the rural municipality of deceiving them by making them put their signatures on the minutes of the meeting which mentioned allocation of Rs 50 lakhs only.

Says Mohammad Aarif Miya, spokesperson of Gujara municipality, “The convention was delayed since the Mayor did not clarify on the budget to the ward members.”

Likewise, deputy mayor of Baudhimai municipality of Rautahat Prem Kala Kushwaha said the convention was delayed since the ward chairpersons and board members demanded motorbikes and scooters. The convention was held on March 1, 2019 following a consensus.

Budget arrears

The Schedule-8 of the Constitution has given the local levels the power to use 22 rights. However, this does not mean that the local levels can misuse their rights. Every rural municipality and municipality are obliged to endorse the estimated income and expenditure of the annual budget in the beginning of each fiscal year. The convention is as important as the federal parliament.

According to former secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration Purusottam Nepal, conducting assemblies of rural municipalities and municipalities are legal. “The salary and allowances provided to the employees and the staffers will be illegitimate without conducting the assembly. Therefore, convening an assembly is a must.”

According to Clause 71 of local government operation act 2074, every level has to present the budget before July of every month and endorse it by July end.

Despite the legal provision, eight local governments of Province-2 have made a mockery of the local government act.

Local government affairs expert Krishna Prasad Sapkota said all income and expenditure made without convening the assembly would be illegitimate. Sapkota says, “The local government cannot spend a single penny without endorsing the expenditure-related Appropriation Bill and income-related Economic Bill. If done so, it would be an abuse of authority.”

Balananda Poudel, Chairperson of National Natural Resource and Finance Commission and Federal Affairs expert, says all works, including the salary and allowances received by the employees, representatives and staffers without holding rural municipalities and municipality assemblies will be illegitimate.

Poudel says, “If such a situation arises, at least the advance bill has to be presented and endorsed.” 

Spokesperson of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Pradip Kumar Koirala said they would investigate the activities, which have been carried out by defying the jurisdiction by the rural municipalities.

Spokesperson at the Auditor General’s Office Bishnu Prasad Rijal said all expenditure and income made without conducting the assembly will be investigated. “The Office of the Auditor General will raise a question to such activities.”

(With inputs from Shrawan Dev from Saptari, Surendra Kamati from Siraha and Bimala Gupta from Bara and Rautahat)