India has delayed agreemo for Shankar Sharma who has been recommended envoy to the southern neighbor.
The Foreign Ministry had written to America, Britain and India for agreemo on December 10, 2021 after the three recommended envoys were endorsed through parliamentary hearing.
Gyan Chandra Acharya was first appointed envoy to Britain after receiving agreemo while Sridhar Khatri was also appointed last week after receiving agreemo from America.
But India has yet to send agreemo for Sharma.
There is no fixed deadline for granting agreemo but it arrives in around two months as per international practice, according to former foreign secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai. "The country concerned would not know which person is arriving as envoy in the past. They, therefore, would do background check on the person arriving in one's country as an ambassador. It would take one and a half to two months," Bhattarai elaborated. "There are news reports in the media now from the time of recommendation to parliamentary hearing. They already know about the person to arrive as envoy. It should not take even one and a half to two months now."
He added that it is normal for delay in agreemo some times due to internal reasons of the country concerned.
The Sher Bahadur Deuba government had recalled all the envoys sent as political appointees. There is no Nepali envoy in Delhi now after Nilambar Acharya returned in September 2021.
Maoist leader Ram Karki who was recommended as envoy to India a decade back was never appointed as India did not send agreemo.
The Foreign Ministry says Sharma's agreemo will arrive in a few days.
The Indian side has attributed the delay to the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic and assembly elections in different states. "They say there is no other reason. They have said it is due to election and COVID," an official at the Nepali embassy in Delhi said.
