The government has formed a recommendation committee to appoint the chairperson of the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA).
Currently, Joint Secretary Madan Dahal of the Ministry of Finance is serving as the acting chairman of the NIA following the suspension of NIA Chairman Surya Prasad Silwal, who is facing a case filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in the Special Court for submitting fraudulent date of birth. As per the law, Silwal's position was automatically suspended upon the filing of the case on December 9.
Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung announced the decisions of the Council of Ministers meeting held on Tuesday. The committee will be chaired by a member of the National Planning Commission and include the finance secretary and Jyoti Chandra Ojha as members, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported.
Minister Gurung further stated that the cabinet decided to impose penalties under Chapter 3 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2008 for offenses such as misappropriation, human smuggling, Hundi transactions, virtual currency dealings, match-fixing, embezzlement, and operating casinos without a license.
The meeting also granted approval to draft a bill concerning facilities for former VIPs.
In another decision, the cabinet formed a recommendation committee under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the Public Service Commission to appoint members to the Teachers Service Commission. The committee includes the vice-chancellor of Tribhuvan University and the secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology as members.
