The government, on Tuesday, dissolved the Land Related Problem-Solving Commission which was formed by the then KP Sharma Oli-led government on 22 March 2020.

The Commission, which had tenure of three years, was formed to provide land to landless people across the country and to manage informal settlers.

The Commission was headed by Devi Prasad Gyawali, who had lost Bharatpur Metropolitan City’s mayoral race to CPN-Maoist Centre candidate and CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s daughter Renu Dahal.

A member of the dissolved commission, Bhim Bahadur Karki, said the Commission had formed its district committees on February 21 and had signed agreements with 743 local levels to collect data of landless people and land available in those local levels for the beneficiaries.

Karki said 513 local levels had issued notice giving people 35 days to file their application and in that period 1,180,761 people submitted applications – 247,960 landless families and 932,841 informal settlers.

As per him, the Commission had sent 1.7 million forms to local levels and 25,000 families who had filed applications in the past seeking government land were in the final phase of getting land ownership certificates.

“The government should have talked to commission members before abruptly deciding to dissolve the commission. The constitution guarantees the citizens’ right to housing. Since the constitution says that landless Dalits will be provided land, the government’s action will deprive the intended beneficiaries of their fundamental rights,” he said.

The spokesperson for Nepal Government and Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said the government had decided to dissolve the commission as the process of forming the Commission was faulty. He said since the Commission did not follow its objectives, the government decided to dissolve it.

He said the government had told the intended beneficiaries to submit their applications at district land revenue offices.

Likewise, the government appointed Madhu Prasad Regmi as chairman of the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC). The meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Tuesday decided to appoint Dilliram Rimal and Nanda Kumari Maharjan as members of TSC.

TSC’s regular work was affected due to the previous government’s inability to appoint its officials for a long time. Recruitment and promotion of new teachers in the community schools across the country was hampered in lack of officials at TSC.

Similarly, the government decided to accept a concessional loan of about Rs 19.58 billion from the Asian Development Bank to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, said Minister Karki.

The government also decided to waive the delay fee for civil registration during the restriction period from April 29. Personal incidents could not be registered due to the prohibition order, and the local bodies have started charging late fees.

After the government’s decision, no delay fee will be charged.

Likewise, the government appointed members in the Committee formed for the distribution of decorations, orders and medals. Prof Bhushan Shrestha, Govinda Prasad Sharma, Madandas Shrestha, Kush Prasad Mali, Om Prakash Mahato and Nara Bahadur Kandel have been appointed as members of the Decoration Committee.

The Cabinet also decided to seek clarifications from General Manager of Nepal Railway Company Guru Prasad Bhattarai.

Meanwhile, the government has approved the National Medical Education First Amendment Rules-2021.