KATHMANDU, Aug 1: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has appointed the persons implicated in the Jalahari and Dharmashala scandals as the member-secretary and members of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT).
Minister Kirati has appointed Milan Thapa as member-secretary for a second consecutive term. Rajukumar Khatri has also been repeated as a member. He is a person who has been a member of the trust before.
Member-Secretary Thapa and Member Khatri are both embroiled in the scandal of reaching an agreement with Batas Group for the operation of 'Nepal-India Friendship Dharamshala'. Khatri was a member of Jalahari Management Committee. He was appointed to this position by the current member-secretary and then treasurer Thapa. Khatri is considered to be close to Member Secretary Thapa.
Govt's decision to reappoint Khatri at PADT draws controversy
Even earlier, Minister Kirati had made Thapa, who was working as a treasurer in the trust, a member-secretary. Even now, he has appointed him as member-secretary of PADT for a second term. Earlier, Thapa was appointed again within six days of the end of his first term.
Thapa's previous tenure as member-secretary is also very controversial. Thapa has been involved in irregularities regarding the Jalahari scandal and the lease of Dharamshala to the Batas Group. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has taken the investigation of the Jalahari scandal to the final stage.
Khatri, who was appointed a member, was a member of PADT from 2017 to 2021. His role as a member of the Trust at the time was also controversial. Kirati has now appointed Khatri in Bastola's place after the tenure of Trust member Arjun Bastola ended.
According to the Ministry of Tourism sources, he has been appointed as a member for four years by a ministerial decision.
Khatri is embroiled in the issue of leasing Nepal-India Dharamshala to Batas Group that is owned by the PADT, and the Jalahari scandal of Pashupati. Earlier in the year 2021, when Khatri's tenure was coming to an end, Thapa, the then treasurer of the Trust, appointed Khatri as a member of the Jalahari Management Committee. Khatri's involvement in Jalahari construction is still there even though his tenure is over. According to an employee of the Trust, Khatri also played a key role in allowing the Batas group to build a physical structure like a five-star hotel inside Pashupati Dharmashala.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Tourism has said that Khatri has been appointed as a member in accordance with the Pashupati Area Development Trust Act 2044.
