Patan High Court gives continuity to short-term interim order to halt selection process of NTB’s CEO

KATHMANDU, May 01:The Patan High Court has continued an earlier short-term interim order prohibiting the Nepal Tourism Board from doing any work related to the selection of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The joint bench of High Court Judges Sudarshan Dev Bhatt and Kailash Prasad Subedi ordered the continuation of the previous short-term interim order on April 29.  The short-term interim order issued by the single bench of Justice Sudarshan Raj Pandey on April 22 was continued.

Following discussions with both parties and the opposition, the High Court extended the short-term interim ruling. The Patan High Court had earlier issued a short-term interim order stating that the court ordered that the nomination of Milan Devkota and Madan Kumar Acharya, members of the sub-committee formed to select the vacant CEO appointment in the NTB, as well as members of the NTB's board of directors, are invalid, as is the selection sub-committee itself.

The High Court gave an interim order on Kundan Sharma Mishra's petition. Although 20 candidates applied for the Tourism Board CEO position, only 16 were shortlisted. The 16 people have already submitted their presentations.

Earlier in the petition claims that NTB directors Milan Devkota and Madan Kumar Acharya's nominations are illegal, as is the CEO selection sub-committee led by them, and that the process for recommending the CEO's appointment, dated 2080 BS, violates the Nepal Tourism Board Act of 2053 BS.