Questions have been raised as to whether the two decisions made by the then Madhav Kumar Nepal led Cabinet in 2010 to facilitate Baluwatar land grab were taken through the Cabinet meeting or taken outside.
Five ministers in that Cabinet have told Setopati, three of them on record, they do not know about the decisions. The probe committee formed by the government under former secretary Sharada Prasad Trital has already called the Cabinet decisions illegal and recommended revocation of the decisions in its report.
"I have no knowledge that such proposal had come to the Cabinet," home minister in that Cabinet and CPN leader Bhim Rawal told Setopati. "I take the proposals brought to the Cabinet seriously and I am someone who goes to the Cabinet meeting after reading all the proposals. But I do not remember the proposal of providing land for those who claim to own land inside the prime minister's residence coming to the Cabinet."
Rawal said all those who acquired and gave government land in a sensitive area like Baluwatar should be brought to book no matter who they are. "All the facts about who played role in that should be made public. The government must bring back ownership of the land of Baluwatar back to its name first."
Culture minister in that Cabinet and Nepali Congress (NC) leader Minendra Rial also said he doesn't remember such proposal coming to the Cabinet meeting. "I don't remember the proposal of providing land for those who claimed to own land inside the prime minister's residence coming to the Cabinet," Rizal stated.
He argued that the decisions including delegating the authority of revoking registration of land and giving land instead of another plot to the Land Revenue Office in Dilli Bazar should have come to the social committee of the Cabinet he chaired.
"Every proposal coming from the Land Reform Ministry should have come to the social committee that I chaired. The proposal made on May 14, 2010 came neither to the social committee nor do I remember it coming to the Cabinet," he added.
Land reform minister in that Cabinet and CPN-ML leader Dambar Shrestha also said he had not taken such proposal to the Cabinet. "I was land reform minister on that date. But I did not take the proposal. I do not remember doing so," Shrestha stated. "I should not be spared if I had indeed taken the proposal, and forgotten about that now. I will also have to be punished."
He claimed that he still remembers many discussions and decisions taken in the then Cabinet but he does not remember the decisions about expansion of the prime minister's residence, and providing land instead of those inside the residence.
He stressed that the current government must correct if the then Cabinet had taken wrong decisions, and the guilty must be punished.
Two other ministers in that Cabinet have also claimed that the decisions were not taken in the Cabinet meeting but they refused to be named stating they will speak later in appropriate forum.
The then Cabinet led by Madhav Kumar Nepal took decisions on April 11 and May 14, 2010 that Trital committee has called illegal and deemed to have facilitated the Baluwatar land grab.
Only the then PM Nepal can answer whether the controversial decisions were taken through Cabinet meeting or without convening one. Nepal has already stated that the plan to expand the prime minister's residence was his, and he is ready to take responsibility for the decisions.
Leaders close to Nepal's faction, however, have told Setopati that Nepal has confided that CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel, who owns eight annas of the grabbed land in Baluwatar, had facilitated the decisions and had even arranged donation of Rs 40 million to the party in return for the decisions.
The Cabinet decisions taken on those two days mainly constituted five things. First is expansion of the prime minister's residence to the south.
Second, providing an equal area of land outside the prime minister's residence to those who have land inside to expand the residence.
Third, tenants within the expanded prime minister's residence to be given half the area of land outside the residence.
Fourth, tenants even outside the expanded prime minister's residence to be given half the area of land from the side they choose.
Fifth, construction of around 570-meter long eight-meter road from the west of prime minister's residence till the speaker's residence south of the prime minister's residence.
CPN General Secretary Paudel has been dragged in the encroachment of government land in Baluwatar with eight annas of the grabbed land transferred in the name of his son Navin
The government had formed the probe 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 1961 had confiscated 14 ropanis land of Nepali Congress leader Suvarna Shumsher Rana and his father 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. The land owned by Paudel is out of that 113 ropanis.
