In Siraha, various topical committees have been formed in the local units as per existing laws, but almost none of them has held a meeting so far.
Surendrakumar Kamati, | CIJ, Nepal
On 23 March, 2018, a team from Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) nabbed Jayaram Chaudhary, an accountant at Kalyanpur Municipality in Siraha, with Rs 20,000. Chaudhary has been duly suspended from his job. Also suspended is Basudev Yadav, the acting administrative chief of the municipality, in connection with the same scandal. A case against both is currently pending at the Special Court, Kathmandu.
In another instance, on 15 July, 2020, Santakumar Mandal, the son of Mayor Suryanath Mandal, was arrested while he was receiving Rs500, 000 as bribe from service seekers. Mayor Mandal has also been alleged of his connection in the case; the CIAA, on 12 August 2020, filed a case against him at the Special Court demanding Rs500, 000 as compensation and a jail term of six months to a year. Mayor Mandal has also been suspended from his job.
These two scandals were condemned across Siraha. However, the Good Governance and Institutional Development Committee, set up in late 2017 by the municipality itself to control corruption in the local unit, has kept mum. Chief of the committee, Deependra Barbariya Yadav, who is also the chief of ward 5, didn’t issue a single note, completely ignoring the whole scandal.
The promised works of the committee—such as raising awareness about good governance and being vigilant of corruption cases—remain unfulfilled.
“The committee was formed but we never knew about its duties,” Yadav, the chief of the committee, said. “Nobody has briefed us about its functions.” Yadav further questions the existence of the committee: “Let alone the local committee. Even the municipality executive’s meeting is held only once in six months, while by rule it should have been 18 times per six months.”
The Municipality has also formed an Environment and Crisis Management Committee. Unsurprisingly, this committee’s role in environment preservation and crisis management is almost nonexistent. The Covid-19 crisis created an atmosphere of fear among the locals. But during the whole episode, the committee was nowhere to be seen. Dhanbeer Mandal, chief of the committee and ward chair of Kalyanpur-10, concedes: “We hold the meetings and work methodologies have also been formed, but we haven’t been able to effectively carry out our duties.”
Another local unit in the district, the Arnama Rural Municipality, has also formed a crisis management committee. But its efficacy is not different than that of Kalyanpur. Local unit chief, Thhakku Mahato, himself is the coordinator of the committee. A meeting was held on 20 October, 2020, deciding to start awareness drive regarding Covid-19. The decision has not been carried through. Neither has it done anything to curb the effects of cold wave which annually affects lifestyle in the district. The committee hasn’t held any other meeting since October.
Krishnananda Singh, chief administrative officer of Arnama, concedes that while various committees were formed since the local level elections, they are sorely failing at their duties. Besides the crisis management committee, the rural municipality also has committees assigned for law, accountancy, good governance, agriculture development, livestock development and health service.
The nearby Naraha Rural Municipality has set up a public service and capacity development committee, which was expected to amplify public service and the capacity of the officials, elected representatives and of the public too. But, as its coordinator Hukumdev Yadav accepts, the committee has not been able to perform its assigned duty. “While the committee was in place, we were unaware about exactly what its function would be,” Yadav said. “No methodologies were made, and as such, the committee is without any work at the moment.”
Yadav adds that while the committee had repeatedly directed the administrative officer to prepare a work procedure, it was never to be done. “It’s been said that the committee would work to build the capacity for the impoverished, marginalized committees, children, senior citizens and those with disabilities, but the committee hasn’t seen a single meeting so far.”
Siraha has a total of 17 local units, all of which have committees of their own. But none of their role has been effective.
The Article 3 (17) of the Local Government Operation Act 2017 states that various committees should be formed in local units as necessary in order to smoothen the operations. Another existing code, the Gaau-Nagar Karyapalika Karyasampadan Niyamawali 2074, also states that various committees can be formed to assist the local unit.
Bijayraj Subedi, the then Local Development Officer of Siraha who is currently under secretary at Ministry of Science and Technology, says that the lawfully formed committees should perform their assigned duties. “The onus lies on the Chief Administrative Officer to ensure the smooth functioning of the committees but many seems to be ignorant of it,” Subedi said.
Another local unit in the district, Dhangadhimai Municipality, on 31 October 2017, formed six committees, none of which are currently functioning. “Among the six, only two committees have ever held their meetings,” said Shivaraj Chaulagain, the chief administrative officer at Dhangadhimai.
Lakshmeshwar Kapar, the chief of Mirchaiya ward 2, is also the coordinator of the local unit’s Social Development committee, a job he has held for three years. But he is still unware about the roles and responsibilities of the committee he himself heads.
“I am the coordinator of the social development committee,” Kapar said. “But I don’t know anything about what the committee is supposed to do, hence we haven’t done anything. We haven’t held any meetings so far.” Kapar added he was never briefed about it by the municipality. “I have tried to understand my duties as coordinator but the municipality didn’t make any information available,” he says.
Besides heading the social development committee, Kapar is also a member at the public service and capacity development committee. But like the former, this committee is also ineffective. “The committees have been nullified,” Kapar says. “The executive body of the local unit itself don’t hold any meetings, neither does it do any annual reflection on its work. How would the public service be effective then?”
Like Kapar, Rampukar Kamati, chief of Golbazar Municipality ward 9, also holds positions at two committees: he is the member of legislation committee and source estimation and budget limit determination committee. Even though there a few sparse meetings at the beginning, none of the committees have held any for almost two years, Kamati said. “If we don’t have any meetings, how would we get anything done?” he added.
The Golabazar Rural Municipality has formed a total of 10 topical committees. But according to Sridhar KC, the chief administrative officer of the municipality, only a few of them hold any occasional meetings. KC says that while the committees were formed as assistants to the municipality’s executive bodies, they have been rendered functionless. “According to existing laws, the committees are supposed to table legislations at the municipality executive meetings for discussion, but that clearly hasn’t happened,” KC said. “The topical committees are also responsible to monitor the work of the executive. And that, too, is not happening.”
