Former Governor Vijayanath Bhattarai, member of the Governor Selection Recommendation Committee, has resigned. He said that he did not want to sit in the committee since a month after its formation, not a single meeting was held, the ruling parties did not agree and the post of governor was made a joke.

He says that it is not appropriate for him to continue sitting in the committee as the government is going to make a 'rubber stamp' by ignoring the role of the recommendation committee.

"Since there is no point in sitting in the committee, I have decided not to sit with effect from today (Tuesday)," former governor Bhattarai said, "if the government itself chooses the governor, why should we sit?" If it is only a rubber stamp, then we have no justification. Your own name will also go.' 

Even though there is discussion in the economic-political market regarding the selection of the governor, the meeting of the recommendation committee has not been held for almost a month. According to the National Bank Act, a new governor must be appointed one month before the post of governor becomes vacant. The tenure of outgoing Governor Mahaprasad Adhikari ended on Chait 24. 

According to the provisions of the National Bank Act, the government formed the Governor's Recommendation Committee on March 11 (the term of the governor was ending). The recommendation committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel has Bhattarai as a former governor and Vishwa Paudel as an expert member. It took 6 days to give the letter to the recommendation committee members. Even after receiving the letter, the meeting of the committee could not be held until Tuesday. 

The meeting of the recommendation committee could not be held because the tug-of-war between the ruling party Congress and UML has not been resolved. The members of the committee had been expressing their dissatisfaction before when the meeting could not be held. Due to the delay in the appointment of the new governor, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Paudel has entrusted Deputy Governor Neelam Dhungana Timsina as acting governor. 

Among the regulatory agencies in Nepal, the National Bank is relatively strong. The coordination between the Ministry of Finance, which formulates and implements the financial policy, and the National Bank, which formulates and implements the monetary policy, has always been questioned. On top of that, since the government is delaying the appointment of the governor, there is a suspicion that there will be some manipulation here as well. 

According to them, the governor has the most important role in removing Nepal from the "grey-list" of FATF, an international organization that monitors money laundering and terrorist activities. But experts say that it is unfortunate for the country to be in a tug-of-war over the governorship of the government.

'Committee made a rubber stamp'

Vijayanath Bhattarai, former governor and member of the Governor's recommendation committee;

Why did you resign from the governor recommendation committee? 

Governor Selection Recommendation Committee under the coordination of Finance Minister has been given full authority to select the governor by law. The committee will select the best three names and recommend them to the government. Out of the best three, the government will make the governor. Now the government has made the committee a 'puppet'. It came to a situation that they choose the person who will be the governor and that person is recommended by the committee. Therefore, I did not think it was appropriate to sit in the said committee and resigned. 

To whom and how did you resign?  I have sent a written resignation to the coordinator of the

committee (Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister) Jew on WhatsApp. Later I sent it to the Ministry of Finance.

What was the response from the finance minister after sending his resignation? 

The Minister of Finance called and asked why you left. I said that I left because I did not see the role of the committee. If you can't hold even one meeting for a month, why sit in such a committee?  Didn't you refuse when you were appointed as a member of the

committee?  I have accepted that the

committee will be able to work independently and I will also contribute to it. I resigned after not seeing that situation.

What role do you want? 

According to the law, the committee should be allowed to work independently. It means that there was no interference from the government. The governorship is not a post of political stake. Don't pretend to be my man. After assessing the situation, a good, experienced and capable person should be made the governor.