Parliamentary Hearing Committee Faces Challenges in Ambassador Nominee Reviews Due to Unresponsive Complainants

Kathmandu. The process of hearing complaints against ambassador nominees for 13 different countries has become challenging for the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee due to the absence of the complainants. The committee has been discussing how to proceed with further processes after the complainants did not appear for the meeting called to discuss the complaints against the proposed ambassadors. Out of seven complaints filed by four individuals against the proposed ambassadors for 13 nations, most complainants did not attend the meeting. According to committee chairman Bodhnarayan Shrestha, the complainants against Gyanakumar Thapa, proposed ambassador to Japan, and Giribahadur Sunar, proposed ambassador to Saudi Arabia, have become out of contact. The committee has expressed serious concern over their non-appearance despite repeated attempts. However, Deepa Bhandari, who filed a complaint against Nishchalnath Pandey, proposed ambassador to India, has informed via email that she cannot attend and has requested the committee to read out her complaint. The meeting also debated the timeline for publishing public notices. As per the Legal Interpretation Act, the effective time for notice publication is reduced when holidays are included in the calculation, so it was decided to publish the notice on the upcoming Kartik 9, keeping office hours in mind. Chairman Shrestha has directed the secretariat to publish the notice in government media and on the Parliament Secretariat's website to inform citizens and collect complaints.