Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba has instructed Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal to initiate process to appoint Kulman Ghising as managing director (MD) of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
PM Deuba summoned Minister Bhusal to Baluwatar on Tuesday to give instruction to that regard, according to a Baluwatar source, and Minister Bhusal has since summoned current MD Hitendra Dev Shakya to resign.
The government is preparing to seek explanation from Shakya if he does not resign, according to multiple sources. "He has signed a performance contract with the government. The government can accordingly seek explanation pointing that his performance has not been satisfactory," one of the sources said. "The government can remove him if it doesn't find the explanation satisfactory."
Ghising, who was appointed MD by the then energy minister Janardan Sharma from CPN (Maoist Center), is hugely popular after ending load-shedding during his four-year term at the state electricity monopoly.
He retired last year after the then KP Sharma Oli government did not opt to give him a second term.