March 28: At a time when the government is making preparations to announce the budget for the next fiscal year (FY), Finance Minister Barshman Pun has made extensive changes in the responsibilities of the joint secretaries of the Ministry of Finance.

Minister Pun has reshuffled the heads of departments and divisions under the ministry. According to ministry sources, Shiva Lal Tiwari has been appointed as the Director General of the Inland Revenue Department, while Dhundi Niraula has been appointed as the head of the Department of Customs. Prior to this, Tiwari was the Director General of the Department of Environment while Niraula was a joint secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.

Ritesh Kumar Shakya, who was the head of the Revenue Management Division, has been transferred to the Budget and Program Division. Uttar Kumar Khatri, the head of the Budget Division, has been transferred to the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division and Dhani Ram Sharma has been made the head of the Revenue Management Division.

Shobhakant Paudel, who was the Director General of the Department of Customs, has been transferred to the Public Finance Management Training Center. Ram Prasad Acharya, the head of the training center, has been brought to the ministry. Director General of the Inland Revenue Department Bhupal Baral has been transferred to Ministry of Forest and Environment. Baral was transferred from the department less than two months after he was appointed its director general.

Sources in Pun's Secretariat said that preparations are being made to change the finance secretary as well. The role of the Finance Secretary and the Revenue Secretary is important for the preparation of the budget. This is the reason why Finance Minister Pun wants to bring in a finance secretary who suits him.

While the Ministry of Finance as well as other development ministries are actively engaged in the preparation of the budget, confusion has arisen within the Ministry of Finance due to the sudden change of high-ranking officials. According to the constitutional provisions, the budget should be announced on the 15th day of the second month of Nepali calendar (May 28 this year). A lot of procedural work has to be done before the announcement of the budget.

The government should announce its policies and programmes after the approval of the principles and priorities of the budget presented in the parliament. Then the budget is presented to the parliament.

Finance ministry official say that the work of budget preparation has not progressed effectively so far. The finance minister changed the responsibilities of the officials when an intensive discussion on the budget was about to start.

The National Planning Commission has set a ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the next year's budget.

Also, the current fiscal year’s budget has not been implemented effectively due to the change in government. So far, not even 50 percent of the total budget has been spent with just around three and a half months left for the current fiscal year to end.