The government has frozen eight annas land of General Secretary of the ruling CPN Bishnu Paudel in Baluwatar.
Land Reform Minister Padma Aryal has confirmed that the land has been frozen as per the recommendation of the probe committee led by former secretary Sharada Trital. The committee had pointed that ownership of land inside the prime minister's official residence in Baluwatar has been transferred to individuals.
"The plot owned by Navin Paudel, son of Bishnu Paudel, is among the plots frozen," Minister Aryal said. "All the land around the prime minister's residence has been frozen now."
"It seems Paudel acquired the land as the sixth person after tenancy right was established," she added. "The land is legal as it was bought from the tenant. Questions will probably not be asked again about the land where tenancy right has been established."
The record at the Land Revenue Office, Dilli Bazar, however, refutes her claims.
The land currently owned by Paudel seems to have been first transferred to the name of Maya Prajapati as tenant. It is not certain whether she is a genuine tenant or a fake one established by Shobha Kanta Dhakal and Ram Kumar Subedi dubbed the land mafia by the Trital committee.
The land was later transferred to Uma Kumari Dhakal and Madhavi Subedi, spouses of Dhakal and Subedi respectively.
The land that was transferred to Dhakal and Subedi from tenant Prajapati was transferred to Pauedl in 2004, according to the record at Land Revenue Office.
The government had formed the committee under former secretary Trital following complaints that government land at Baluwatar has been transferred to some individuals. The committee had submitted the report to the government in December 2018 concluding that the land transferred to individuals belonged to the government.
The committee had advised the government to ask the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police to investigate how ownership of the land was transferred to individuals and investigate the state of such government land across the country.
The committee stated that the then king Mahendra after the coup in 1951 had confiscated 14 ropanis land of Nepali Congress leader Suvarna Shumsher Rana and his son Kanchan Shumsher in Baluwatar. The government four years later acquired 285 ropanis of Rana's land in Baluwatar by paying compensation.
The PM's residence, chief justice's residence, speaker's residence and the central office of Nepal Rastra Bank are currently situated in 172 ropanis out of that 285 ropanis.
Land mafia in connivance with staffers at the Land Revenue Office has transferred ownership of the remaining 113 ropanis of land to different individuals, the committee has concluded.
CPN General Secretary and former finance minister Bishnu Paudel has also been dragged into the controversy as eight annas out of the 113 ropanis has been transferred in the name of his son Navin.
