Kathmandu. The government’s decision to suspend Sharad Ojha, chairman of the Insurance Authority appointed by it four-and-a-half months ago, has raised various questions with the KP-led government.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday suspended Chairman Ojha for conducting an inquiry into the conduct, performance and performance of office responsibilities as per Sub-section (2) of Section 12 of the Insurance Act, 2079 BS.

Kapil Oli and Jeevan Sitaula are members of the inquiry committee formed under the coordination of former High Court judge Krishna Giri. The committee has been given one month’s time. With the formation of the committee, Ojha has been automatically suspended as per sub-section (3) of Section 12 of the Insurance Act, 2079 BS.

For the suspension, the government has raised questions about chairman Ojha’s conduct, efficiency and performance of office responsibilities. With his suspension, some questions have been left unanswered.

Naturally, Ojha should have been asked for clarification on the issue before being suspended. However, the government has not given Ojha a chance to explain even once. It is suspected that this violated his rights and that the decision came in a politically biased manner.

The government can suspend a person who has all the qualifications and has appointed himself as necessary. But that requires a clear legal basis. The government has not yet sought an explanation from Ojha on issues including efficiency.

While applying for the post of chairman, every person submits an action plan on what to do. If the government does not act accordingly, the government can suspend it. However, so far, the government has not asked Ojha for any clarification on his performance.

The government can look at three months, one year or when necessary. If there is something wrong, it can ask for an explanation. However, the government has not yet asked Ojha for any clarification.

The government had asked for an explanation and if the reply given by him is not satisfied, it can take necessary decisions. However, now the sudden suspension has raised the question whether Chairman Ojha is also trying to do the same as kulman Ghising, the then managing director of the Electricity Authority. It is well known that the Ministry of Energy has given zero marks to Ghising for not being satisfied with his performance.

Even if the government is trying to remove Ojha for not fulfilling his official responsibilities, whether he has done the work to be done as the executive chairman or not, whether he reached the office on time, whether he stayed in the office or not, whether he did the work to be done as the executive chairman, did not do the work to be done, did not do the work to be done by taking salary allowance from the tax paid by the people. The government has not asked Ojha for any explanation on whether he has issued the directive to give÷ issue it at the right time as the chairman of the AUTHORITY÷ or not.

Similarly, the government has also raised the issue of conduct for suspension. So far, there is no public information in writing about the conduct of the chairman’s ojha. The government has not sought any explanation from Ojha in this regard. This has raised some questions about the decision taken by the government.

However, a writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court regarding ojha’s qualifications and appointment before his age. Advocate Indira Dhamala had filed a writ petition on March 27, 2018, seeking quashing of sharad ojha’s appointment to the post of chairman of insurance authority. The case has been adjourned for three months.

The government has made the basis for the suspension of Chairman Ojha, the same issue was also done in the case of the outgoing Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Maha Prasad Adhikari. A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on April 27, 2018 had suspended Adhikari on various charges and formed an inquiry committee under the coordination of former judge Purushottam Bhandari to investigate the matter.

Adhikari had filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court on April 27, 2019, seeking revocation of the suspension. Adhikari returned to his regular duties after a single bench of Justice Hari Phuyal issued an interim order on April 14.

At that time, the government also suspended the officer without any explanation. Now the government has also suspended Ojha without asking for an explanation.

Some have also started arguing that the government is trying not to create any problem in the future by suspending Ojha, who was made chairman without the qualifications prescribed by the Insurance Act. The government is also trying to make the government incompetent for the time being by forming an inquiry committee so that there will be no problem in making appointments to any public post in the future if the matter is removed now as the case is pending in the court on the issue of merit.

According to the Insurance Act 2079 BS, a person with at least a master’s degree in insurance, monetary, banking, financial, commerce, management, public administration, statistics, mathematics, economics or law and at least five years of high managerial work experience in the relevant field will be eligible to be appointed as the chairman of the AUTHORITY.

Where has Ojha gained at least 5 years of high managerial work experience in the relevant field? What is his intention and what is the intention of the government to suddenly suspend him without asking for an explanation even once? Questions have been raised in all of them. Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Dr Shivaraj Adhikari, two secretaries Dr Ram Prasad Ghimire, Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Jyoti Chandra Ojha should also be investigated in the recommendation committee.

Similarly, the government formed by the CPN(UML) and the Nepali Congress has suspended Ojha, who became the chairman of the NRA under the NC quota. There is also the question of whether the talks between Prime Minister Oli and the ruling partner Nepali Congress have stopped.

After the cabinet meeting on Monday, a meeting was held between the prime minister and top leaders of the ruling partners CPN (UML), Nepali Congress and Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister and UML Chairman Oli, Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, JSP Nepal Chair Upendra Yadav, UML Vice-Chairman and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel, General Secretary Shankar Pokharel, NC leader and Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, UML Deputy General Secretary and Prime Minister’s Chief Advisor Bishnu Prasad Rimal and JSP leader Raj Kishor Yadav. ।