MoCIT assigns Purushottam Khanal as Acting Chairman of NTA

MoCIT has assigned Purushottam Khanal as acting chairman of NTA. Ministry has sent a letter to assign his position and responsibilities in the regulator, NTA.

After the resignation of Mr. Digambar Jha as NTA Chairman, the post remained vacant for a week only. Normally, if the Chairman post is vacant, Senior Director works as acting Chairman. The structure of NTA had Mr. Anand Raj Khanal as the Senior most Director in NTA and then Mr. Purushottam Khanal as the second senior Director.

Mr. Anand Raj Khanal is an Engineer by Profession and a renowned personality in the field of Telecommunication. He was recently appointed as a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

But Ministry recently transferred Mr. Anand Raj Khanal from NTA to the Ministry (MoCIT) to work as an Communication Expert. It seems the transfer is mainly focused to appoint the third rank official as an Acting Chairman.

Both Mr. Anand Raj Khanal and Mr. Purushottam Khanal were in the race of NTA chairman open competition. Mr. Government has also selected Purushottam Khanal as one of the three shortlisted candidates before appointing Mr. Jha.

As known from Bizmandu, MoCIT gives full authority to Mr. Khanal for Administrative and Financial works. He can run the regulator like a full Chairman. But he has a limitation for calling NTA board meeting. Previously Mr. Khanal was working as Senior Director of Administration and Approval section, NTA.

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