The ongoing dispute over the establishment of a permanent headquarters has stalled the work of two projects under construction in Rukumkot. The construction of the Rukumkot Assembly Hall in Sisne-5 and the integrated government office building in Sisne-6 is stalled. The structures have become unhealthy due to the obstruction of building construction for 19 months.

The construction of the assembly hall and the integrated building was being carried out by the Federal Urban Development and Building Construction Office in Dang. The Rukumkot Assembly Hall is being constructed at a total cost of Rs 215.995 million. Its work began on 2076 Jestha 8. Bikoi-Akelajevi Kathmandu had taken the contract for it. Ramesh Thing, Senior Divisional Engineer of the Federal Urban Development and Building Construction Office, said that 49 percent of the work has been completed so far. He said that the construction of other structures except the main block of the assembly hall has been completed.

He said that the contractor company has already received payment of Rs 91 million for the work done so far. 'If the remaining work is evaluated, another Rs 10 million will be left to be paid,' he said, 'about Rs 1.5 million will have to be recovered from the construction contractor.' Initially, the construction of the assembly hall was delayed for some time due to the unavailability of the construction site and the Corona epidemic. The assembly hall, spread over a total area of ​​20 ropanis, has a total of 4 blocks, including a main block (auditorial block), a multipurpose hall, an entrance block and a backstage hall. The construction of this assembly hall, which has a total capacity of 500 people, has been stalled since last Shrawan 2081.

The integrated government office building, which was started in Rukumkot, is also incomplete. Its construction was started with a total investment of Rs 143.2 million. Only the work up to the DPC (plinth level) of the building has been completed. Sons and Sons-Mangaldeep JV has taken the contract for it. Engineer Thing said that the progress of the building under construction near the District Administration Office is about 20 percent so far. ‘The construction business has already received payment of about 13 million rupees for this,’ he said, ‘Now the construction business is not yet due to receive payment from the office.’ The construction of the building was started with the aim of providing integrated government services. When the work was stopped, the structures built so far have become dilapidated.

A writ was filed in the Supreme Court demanding a stay on the construction of these structures as the district headquarters had not been finalized. The court then ordered a halt to the construction work. After the promulgation of the new constitution, Rukumpur was established as a separate district. After that, the work of the headquarters started from Rukumkot. However, the controversy began after the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's Council of Ministers decided on 15th Magh 2074 to keep the district headquarters in Puthauttarganga Rural Municipality-12, Golkhada.

A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court on 17th Magh 2074 against the government's decision. The next day, the court issued an interim order, asking that the government's decision to move the headquarters not be implemented immediately. After this, a long dispute arose over whether the district headquarters should be Rukumkot or Golkhada. On 17th Bhadra 2080, the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court issued a decree in the name of the government on the writ petition, stating that the government's previous decision was nullified by the order of the court. The order stated that the government should again designate the district headquarters based on sufficient grounds and criteria. It was mentioned that the criteria should be set for determining the district headquarters and whether the headquarters should be moved or designated.

After this, a new debate started on whether to maintain Rukumkot as the district headquarters or designate another place as the headquarters instead. While the dispute was still ongoing, a writ was filed in the Supreme Court in 2081 Shrawan demanding that the assembly hall and the integrated government office building not be built in Rukumkot. On 25 Shrawan 2081, the court issued an interim order to ‘keep the construction work of both these projects as it is’. As per this order, the construction work of both projects has now been stopped.

After this, on 16 Mangsir 2081, the Supreme Court gave a final decision on the writ and ruled that ‘all the work done for the construction work, including comments, orders, decision letters, correspondence, etc., shall be declared null and void by the order of the court’, Divisional Engineer Thing informed that the Federal Urban Development and Building Construction Office has initiated the process of terminating these contracts.