PAC Calls for Legal & Policy Reforms to Manage Piling Arrears

The Public Accounts Committee under the House of Representatives (HoR) has underlined the ways to address the policy-level and practical problems appeared in terms of arrears.

In today’s meeting, its President Bharat Bahadur Khadka highlighted the need for necessary policy and legal reforms to address arrears by providing critical information to various government agencies regarding arrears.

“In the meeting today, we have gathered information about the status of arrears from various government agencies,” he said, adding. “We will engage in in-depth discussions on the arrears issues raised by the concerned agencies and take remedial action to reduce them.”

On the occasion, Nepal Army Chief Ashok Raj Sigdyal shared the NA’s target to clear 60 percent of the remaining arrears for the current fiscal year. However, only 11 percent has been settled so far. “The NA’s arrears amount to more than Rs 5.3 billion that have accumulated over the years under various headings and sectors,” he clarified.

“There appear some technical issues in clearing arrears under the Kathmandu-Tarai/Madhesh Expressway. We are trying to complete the necessary procedures to resolve the remaining arrears.”

Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest, and Environment, Rajendra Prasad Mishra, shared that out of the previous Ministry of Agriculture’s pending amount of Rs 6.35 billion, 40.28 percent has been cleared so far.

He also mentioned that out of the previous Ministry of Forest’s pending amount of Rs 5.6 million, only 16 percent has been cleared. Likewise, under-secretary at the Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs, said it has arrears amount of around Rs 26 million. “The Law Ministry had zero arrears last year. However, since the ministry currently has a very small amount of arrears, we will make the arrears amount zero within this fiscal year itself.”

Secretary at the Federal Parliament Secretariat, Dr. Rojnath Pandey, noted that the Secretariat has arrears amount of Rs 24.06 million, stating that there was still pending despite claims and payments related to MPs’ medical expenses incurred in the previous and current fiscal years.

Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amrit Bahadur Rai, mentioned that different agencies under the ministry have arrears amount of Rs 308 million and has a target to settle 43 percent arrears by the end of the current fiscal year.

Registrar at the Supreme Court, Bhadrakali Pokhrel, informed that necessary action plan has been put in place to clear the arrears under the Supreme Court. Secretary at the Ministry of Youth, Labour, and Employment, Dr. Deepak Kafle, informed that out of the Rs 990 million arrears amount under the ministry, 22 percent has been cleared.

He said, “We have been regularly discussing about the clearance through meetings of the senior management team under the ministry.” Secretary at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Pramila Bajracharya said that around Rs 179.3 million was arrears amounts under the former Ministry of Science and Technology.

Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, Laxmi Kumari Basnet, mentioned that out of Rs 30.29 billion of arrears under various headings in the ministry, 5.64 percent has been cleared.

Similarly, Secretary at the Ministry of Defense, Kedarnath Sharma, said that the ministry aims to clear about 30 percent of the arrears this fiscal year. According to the 63rd report of the Office of the Auditor General, of Nepal, a total amount of arrears has exceeded Rs 755 billion 170 million. (RSS)