Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Beduram Bhusal has appointed the 40th-ranked Dhruba Raj Bhattarai as the acting executive director of Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC).
Bhusal has given NARC’s leadership to Bhattarai exercising his authority as the ex officio chairman of NARC.
As Bhattarai and Bhusal are both from Arghakhanchi and enjoy close relations, Bhusal has appointed Bhattarai leaving out senior directors.
Deepak Bhandari, the then executive director of NARC, went on a compulsory retirement on June 11. Bhandari had made the second-ranked Dr Dojraj Ghimire acting executive director when he retired.
Bhusal has replaced Ghimire with Bhattarai, who ranks far below.
As per the NARC regulation, a search committee first recommends the names of three candidates when appointing a new executive director. The Cabinet then appoints one of them as the executive director of NARC.
“But Minister Bhusal made a mockery of NARC’s tradition by forcibly appointing a 40th-ranked person as the acting executive director,” Dr Ram Prasad Ghimire, president of the Society of Agricultural Scientists Nepal, told Setopati. “This has vitiated the environment for scientists to join NARC.”
Bhusal appointed Bhattarai as NARC’s acting executive director on June 16. Taking exception to the appointment, NARC scientists had then gone to meet Bhusal to draw his attention to the issue.
“We had gone to draw [Bhusal’s] attention on June 19 after he brought a junior person to NARC’s leadership on June 16,” Ghimire told Setopati. “But he answered that he was a minister and exercised his authority.”
Issuing a statement, the Society of Agricultural Scientists Nepal has urged Bhusal to rectify the mistake.
But Bhusal said that Bhattarai has been made acting executive director only until the next executive director is appointed.
He claimed that people affiliated with various political parties spread unnecessary rumors on the issue after things didn’t go their way.
“The regulation has a provision that one of the directors can be made the acting executive director. The one I appointed is also a director,” Bhusal said. “This arrangement has been made only until a new executive director is appointed. After the search committee recommends three people later, the Cabinet will appoint the executive director from among them.”
It has emerged that Bhusal had made Bhattarai director only two weeks earlier for the sole purpose of appointing him as the acting executive director.
While Bhusal has already appointed Bhattarai as the acting executive director, he has yet to start the process for appointment of a new executive director.
Generally, the agriculture minister has to start the process for appointing a new executive director of NARC by forming a search committee before the post falls vacant. The search committee is headed by the Agriculture Ministry’s secretary.
“But the minister did not even form a search committee this time. And he made a person he favors the acting executive director,” Ghimire said. “Even now he hasn’t formed a search committee and started the appointment process for a new executive director.”
Bhusal said that he has not been able to start the process for appointment of NARC’s executive director as he had been busy with the budget and other issues.
He said that a new executive director will be appointed soon by forming a search committee.
