The newly formed working committee of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) formally assumed responsibility by taking the oath of office and secrecy on Sunday. 

The 24th annual general meeting of IPPAN amended the statute and now implemented the system of selecting leadership through elections for all positions. 

The amended statute has removed the provision that the senior vice-president automatically becomes the president. Earlier, the current president Mohan Kumar Dangi was the senior vice-president before the amendment of the statute, so he automatically became the president.  With the amendment of the statute, senior vice-president Uttam Vlon Lama will no longer be the president automatically. 

According to the amended statute, a candidate for the post of president must have served in the working committee for at least one term. The statute will come into full effect after it is approved by the District Administration Office.

Khatiwada, who is also the vice-president of the new working committee and former general secretary, said that the new working committee was unanimously elected by amending the statute to hold elections for all positions as per the demand. 

'Our demand was to amend the constitution and hold elections for all posts. The amendment was made accordingly. Now elections will be held for all posts. Except for the president, IPPAN members can contest for all posts openly, there is no requirement that they must be working committee members,' he said. 'We have also removed the provision that the senior vice-president will automatically become the president.'

The office bearers and members of the working committee elected from the 24th annual general meeting and the eighth session took oath at a program organized by the organization. After that, the outgoing working committee handed over the charge to the new leadership.

The vice-presidents are Uttam Kumar Shrestha, Narendra Vallabh Pant, Bikram Bista, Susan Karmacharya and Him Prasad Pathak. According to the new amended constitution passed by the annual general meeting, the number of vice-presidents has increased to seven, with the addition of Balram Khatiwada and Prakash Chandra Dulal.

Teknath Acharya (T.N. Acharya) has been elected as the general secretary and Kavita Pokharel as the deputy general secretary.

Similarly, Abhigya Malla, Isha Shrestha, Kunwarmani Nepal, Vijay Mohan Bhattarai and Suman Kumari Joshi have been selected as the secretaries. According to the new amended statute, Krishna Ghimire and Deepak Podel have been added as secretaries, bringing the number of secretaries to seven.

Shankar Basyal has been elected as the treasurer, while Anup Acharya, Kadam KC, Jagadish Siwakoti, Jagat Bahadur Pokharel, Jyoti Gaire, Narayan Kandel, Pratima Gyawali, Milan Khadka, Sangeeta Dhamala and Baran Lamichhane have been elected as members. Indira Pant, Narayan Khanal, Baburam Thapa, Santosh Nepal and Somnath Kandel have been proposed as permanent invited members to be implemented after the amended statute is approved by the District Administration Office.