Parliamentarians of the Sudurpaschim Province, who received benefits not authorised by law, collected 13 million rupees in the last five years. During the presidential election, they took 1.6 million rupees for travel expenses to and from Kathmandu, a violation of the rules.
Bhanubhakta Acharya
Bhim Bhandari, speaker of the Sudurpaschim Provincial Assembly, traveled to Kathmandu on March 7 to vote in the presidential and vice-presidential elections. He returned to Dhangadhi on March 20 and collected 47,925 rupees from the assembly secretariat for daily and travel allowances, plane tickets and other expenses, in breach of the law..
Deputy speaker, Koilidevi Chaudhary, who made two round trips to Kathmandu during the election, also collected 22,925 rupees from the secretariat. Four assembly members — Chakra Bahadur Malla, Bir Bahadur Thapa, Rajendrasinh Rawal and Heera Sarki — also received daily and travel allowances, plane tickets and other expenses for traveling to and from Kathmandu twice within 15 days.
Members of the Provincial Assembly from the previous term
As of May 19, the provincial secretariat had transferred Rs 1.6 million to 39 members of the Provincial Assembly for their daily and travel allowances, transportation costs and miscellaneous expenses. Some members are yet to receive the money in their accounts.
Among those who applied for the allowances and expenses were Chief Minister Kamal Shah, Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Prakash Deuba, Economic Affairs and Planning Minister Naresh Bahadur Shahi and Provincial Assembly member RP Khemadevi Bista. Speaker Bhim Bhandari approved their trips.
Maoist lawmaker Om Bikram Bhat got the most money, Rs 53,3325, after voting in the presidential and vice presidential elections. Junakumari Dani and Akkal Rawal followed with 51,365 and 510,25 rupees, respectively.
Illegal benefits
The law on pay and perks for provincial officials and members only allows daily and travel allowances for those who travel for provincial work. But the Provincial Assembly Secretariat said it was following the law while giving out other benefits.
“We give them (Provincial Assembly members) the ticket cost for their trips to and from the Provincial Assembly work, 1,000 rupees per day for pocket money and 25,000 per day as daily and travel allowance,” said Dev Bahadur Bogati, the Provincial Assembly Secretariat secretary. “That’s what’s been happening all along.”
But the law does not allow ticket and pocket expenses. Section 10 of the law on pay and perks for provincial officials and members says they shall get daily and travel allowances as per schedule 1 for their trips within and outside the country for provincial government work. The schedule says the speaker and lawmakers shall get Rs 2,500 per day as daily and travel allowance, but it doesn’t say for how long. But using this provision, provincial officials and members have also claimed reimbursements from the Provincial Assembly Secretariat for their private trips.
Lawmaker Uma Devi Yadav got Rs 29,025 from the Provincial Assembly Secretariat for her trip to Kathmandu from November 7-13, 2021, for travel, daily and miscellaneous expenses.
Akkal Rawal, who visited Kathmandu on March 4, 2023, for a regular health check-up and to study the parliament’s activities, also got Rs 30,945 for the same reasons. Harka Bahadur Kunwar, who went to Kathmandu for treatment on February 7, 2023, got Rs 8,125. Malamati Rana and Sushila Budhathoki got Rs 32,720 and 27,805, respectively, for the same purpose.
Bhim Bahadur Aier, the Provincial Assembly’s accounts officer, says they have been giving out the money for daily and travel allowance and other costs since the start and did not stop this time either. He says they kept doing it because the auditor didn’t flag it.
He says, “The law has a mistake, so it has caused some confusion.”
Speaker Bhim Bhandari says the allowance from the secretariat is normal given the lawmakers’ expenses in Kathmandu. He says, “A normal hotel in Kathmandu does not have a room for less than Rs 3,500 per day. You can’t get enough food for 1,000-1,500 per day. So, the amount we are paying is nothing special. But, from outside, there are rumors that this is against the law.” He said the reimbursements for the representatives based on their needs should not be considered a big deal.
Auditors’ neglect
The provincial assembly members have been getting this benefit, which is not in the law and rules, for five years, but neither the internal nor the final auditor have raised any issue.
Yagyaraj Pandey, the Provincial Comptroller’s Office accounts officer in Dhangadhi, says they audited the books according to the ‘Pay and Perks Law for State Assembly Officials and Members, 2018’ and the ‘Visit Expenses (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2015’.
But, he said he only learned about this provision of the law after talking to CIJ. He also asked, “Why didn’t the Office of the Auditor General catch this in the final audit?”
Former Acting Comptroller General Sukdev Khatri says the lawmakers should return everything except Rs 2,500 from what they got. He says, “You can’t take perks based on two laws. The benefit taken this way is illegal.”
Kulananda Upadhyay, Sudurpaschim Province’s chief attorney, says the problem arose due to carelessness and inexperience while making the law.
He says, “The law has an error, so it has created some confusion.” He thinks they passed the model law sent by the federal government in 2017-18 as it was. He says this benefit may be canceled if there is a court case about it.
Not the same in other provinces
Did other provinces’ assembly members who came to Kathmandu to vote for the president and vice-president also get the same benefit? A search showed that only Sudurpaschim Province Assembly members got daily and travel allowance as well as plane tickets and pocket money.
Koshi province only gave transport costs to lawmakers who went to Kathmandu for provincial government work. Karnali, Lumbini, Gandaki, Bagmati and Madhesh provinces did not give any benefits to those who voted for the president and vice-president.
“This was their personal matter, not the parliament’s work,” said Prem Subedi, the Gandaki Provincial Assembly Secretariat’s deputy secretary. “They paid for it themselves.”
Jeevanraj Budhathoki, Karnali Provincial Assembly Secretariat’s secretary, said the secretariat had no provision to give allowances or other costs to the provincial assembly members who went to the president and vice-president elections and it was not needed.
Durbar Kumar Pun, the Lumbini Provincial Assembly Secretariat’s secretary, says there is no question of giving allowances to MPs who go to Kathmandu for election work under the provincial assembly’s spending or allowance standards.
Even the members of the Bagmati Assembly have not received such an allowance. “They didn’t ask for it, we didn’t give it either, ” says Secretary Krishnahari Khadka .
Ramchandra Mandal, speaker of Madhesh Province, also said that the provincial assembly did not offer any facilities to lawmakers who traveled to Kathmandu to vote.
Speaker Bhandari: This issue Should Not Be Made Big
Are the pocket expenses, plane fares and other costs that provincial assembly members have incurred for the past five years not against the law?
The provincial assembly has enacted incomplete laws. Some conflicts exist. The laws do not conform to the regulations, and no laws have been made to cover what the regulations stipulate. This creates some contradictions.
You mentioned the perks; when lawmakers travel to the federal capital, Kathmandu, they receive a daily travel allowance of 2,500. However, even a modest hotel in Kathmandu charges at least 3,000 to 3,500 per day for a room. One thousand to 1,500 is barely enough for food in one day. In this light, the benefits are negligible. However, outsiders spread rumours that the law was not made; policy wasn’t made.
We pay for tickets only when lawmakers travel on official business. This facility is offered because everyone has to attend the presidential and vice-presidential elections. We don’t reimburse anyone for personal travel.
That facility is not mentioned in the Act on Remuneration and Benefits of Officials and Members of the Provincial Assembly, 2075, is it?
The allowance for lodging and food is clear: it is 2,500 rupees per day. For transportation, there is a provision for tickets when the assembly is in session. I don’t think we would have any problems if we extend the provision to cover visits to Kathmandu.
Is it right to say that just because something isn’t in the law, it won’t cause problems?
On the surface, as you say, I have nothing to add. However, as you know, the law is not flawless.
The law does not specify how many days the daily allowance of 2,500 rupees covers.
Nepal’s constitution, laws, provincial laws and regulations are still incomplete. Therefore, exploiting state resources with ill intentions is a crime. However, it is not appropriate to blow the issue of people’s representatives out of proportion.
If that is the case, why continue to pay against the law?
Many things require modification. Many aspects of the remuneration of officials and members of the provincial assembly are incomplete; we will revise all of them.
