Supreme Court stays NTA Chairman appointment

Digambar Jha- Disputed NTA Chairman.

The Supreme Court has stayed the appointment of Digambar Jha to the post of Chairman of Nepal Telecommunications Authority.

They stated that Jha was not qualified for the post as per Section 5 of the Telecommunication Act, 1997. A SC bench with Justices Kalyan Shrestha and Sushila Karki came to the decision.  They directed the governemnt to halt the process in appointing Mr. Jha in the NTA CHairman Position.

“He is a mechanical engineer and does not meet the prerequisite criteria of the Act, that requires specialisation in telecommunication or technical sector, administration or market management, accounts or auditing or even law to be eligible to apply for the post,” the bench said, As per THT.

As there may be a long term effect on the whole telecommunication sector, they felt the need for the stay order.

As Mr. Jha does not seem to even have Bachelor in Engineering, the bench states him not to qualify for the post.

On December 10, 2012, Supreme court issued show cause notice in the name of government authorities including the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Information and Communications on Jha’s appointment in response to a writ petition filed by his competitor Bishwonath Goyal and a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Jagannath Mishra.

On the first week of December, the government had appointed Jha Chairman of the telecommunication regulator.
Source: thehimalayantimes