Shera Durbar land grab issue debated in House committee

Nepal: The Shera Durbar land ownership transfer row has been debated in a parliamentary committee as lawmakers from ruling parties sought details on the matter from Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak.

 

photo: TKP

The issue has been hotly debated in the media and other public platforms for the last couple of days after the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police found that the property belonging to the Nuwakot-based historic palace was transferred to an individual’s name.

 

The issue got wider attention with former prime minister Dahal linked to the scam due to the involvement of his former secretariat member, Bikesh Shrestha, in the ‘illegal transfer’ of land ownership of the Shera Durbar, the winter palace of Prithvi Narayan Shah.

 

King Mahendra introduced a Land Reforms policy in 1964, enacting the Land Act, which enforced a ceiling on individual land possession. Land above the ceiling would be nationalised as per the law.

 

However, Section 12 of the Act exempts limits for the land used for industrial, agricultural, cooperative farming, educational, or medical purposes.

 

Before the Act was enforced, 164 ropanis and 13 annas of the land totalling over 184 ropanis was brought under Gauri Shankar farming after transferring the ownership of other chunks of the land in the names of King Tribhuvan’s descendants.

 

The land of Shera Durbar in Nuwakot, Bidur-2, was first registered in 1979 under the name Gauri Shankar Farming. According to the registration details in the Nuwakot Land Revenue Office, the company was renamed Annapurna Farming in 1987.

 

“Except for the renaming of the company at that time, the land revenue office has no further information on this matter,” said Min Bahadur Bhattarai, chief of the Revenue Office.

 

Bhattarai further said that no trade-related activities occurred on the land since the government introduced the land ownership ceiling in 2016.

 

Reportedly, Bikesh Shrestha registered all the shares under Annapurna Farming, totalling 164 ropanis. When Shrestha was linked to the illegal occupant of the land, thereby linking the former prime minister Dahal, the issue was also raised in the meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

 

Home Minister Lekhak told the meeting that the Shera Durbar issue was a matter of serious investigation.

 

“Shera Durbar [land] is a subject of major investigation,” Lekhak said, responding to a question by Basudev Ghimire, a lawmaker from coalition partner CPN-UML. It will be retaken if it was unlawfully transferred to an individual’s name.”

 

Earlier, Ghimire had asked the home minister for clarification on the Shera Durbar land’s status.

 

Former prime minister Dahal said, “If there is any unlawful conduct in the Shera Durbar land, it should be returned.”

 

On December 29, Minister Lekhak called the Inspector General of Nepal Police, Basanta Kunwar, and the Chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CIB), Additional Inspector General Dipak Thapa, and asked them to investigate the scam related to the Shera Durbar immediately.

 

On December 30, addressing a rally in Gauriganj, Jhapa, Dahal denied the involvement of his party in the Shera Durbar scam, emphasising that the accused had left the party 15 years ago.

 

“Even if any individual associated with our party is found involved, I will not support them. I have called for a thorough investigation into the matter,” Dahal said at the gathering.

 

According to the CIB, the police received an anonymous complaint, on August 28, through the post alleging irregularities related to Shera Durbar and the land it covers.

 

After four months of investigation, the CIB submitted its report to the Ministry for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation on December 27. A senior CIB officer said that rather than recommend prosecution; our bureau has suggested the government assign the issue to the Department of Land Management Archives in Babarmahal for further study.

 

The CIB's report to the ministry recommended that the government confiscate the land under question.

 

“If necessary, the department will bring the land under the government’s name,” the CIB officer said.

 

An officer at the Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation said that the ministry is studying the report submitted by the CIB, and the report's details can only be disclosed after going through the report.