The meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Monday decided to dismiss Ojha after the investigation committee submitted a report with the conclusion that the documents submitted by Sharad Ojha when he was appointed as the chairman were questionable.
What you should know
The government has dismissed the suspended chairman of Insurance Authority Sharad Ojha. A minister said that the cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to dismiss Ojha after the inquiry committee submitted a report with the conclusion that the documents submitted by Ojha when he was appointed as the chairman were questionable.
After questions were raised about Ojha's qualifications and experience, the government formed a three-member inquiry committee headed by former judge Krishna Giri on June 30. Kapil Wali and Jeevan Prakash Sitaula were members of the committee. With the formation of the committee, Ojha was suspended . The
committee submitted an investigation report to the Prime Minister's Office last week. The Prime Minister's Office instructed the Ministry of Finance to implement the report. On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel submitted a proposal to dismiss Ojha in the Council of Ministers based on the same directive. In the
investigation report, it has been pointed out that Ojha does not have the minimum experience in the relevant field as stipulated by the law, and that the performance is poor. According to sources, it was not found that the experience of the field prescribed by law was not reached in the documents submitted by Chairman Ojha during the investigation based on the workload assigned to the committee. During the study, it was found that Ojha worked as a senior correspondent in the field of communication. But in the law, there is a provision for the Chairman of the Insurance Authority to have five years of high managerial experience in the relevant field. A member of the investigation committee said that the experience of working in the field of communication could not represent the related field.
According to the provisions of Section 12 of the Insurance Act, the government formed an inquiry committee. "If the government of Nepal should dismiss the chairman or member, he may dismiss him from office on the recommendation of a three-member investigation committee consisting of a retired judge of the high court and two persons with at least 10 years of experience in the insurance or financial sector," section 12 of the Act states, "After the investigation committee is formed, such person will be automatically suspended until the investigation period ends." Eligibility criteria have been determined, including at least 5 years of high managerial work experience in the relevant field with at least a master's degree in banking, finance, commerce, management, public administration, statistics, mathematics or law.
Ojha was appointed as the chairman of the authority for 4 years from the cabinet meeting on 12 February 2081. After the documents related to Ojha's qualification and experience were found to be questionable, the Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission started the
investigation from last May. The Authority had withdrawn the documents from the Ministry of Finance saying that the appointment was made on the basis of the documents submitted by Ojha without double examination. A petition was also filed in the Supreme Court on March 17 against the Prime Minister and Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Recommendation Committee and Ojha, claiming that Ojha's appointment was illegal. Three days after that, on 20 Chait, the bench of Judge Nahkul Subedi issued a show cause order in the name of the government and called both parties for discussion. Last time on 5th June 2082, the bench of Chief Justice Prakashmansingh Raut and Justice Nityanand Pandey ordered Ojha to submit documents related to the basis for his appointment as President. The case is still pending. A complaint against the appointment of Ojha was also filed in the authority. After seeing the quality of the documents submitted by Ojha in the initial investigation, the authority started a detailed investigation.
