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Bagmati Chief Minister Shalikram Jammakattel has assured of the establishment of a public university in the province. Inaugurating the Office of the Province High Education Council today, the Chief Minister who also serves as the Council Chair said the Council has its role in preparing policies and strategies for higher education and providing general policy-level guidelines for the operation of the University. As he said, the Council would play a role for producing human resources required for the province. Chief Minister Jammakattel said the Council will promote autonomy for province-level universities, non-profitable community academic institutes and the constituent colleges. He announced that the province government prioritized the production of skilled technical human resources. On the occasion, Khubiram Adhikari, Chief of the Education Development Division, Ministry of Social Development, said that the Provincial Higher Education Act was certified on March 28, 2022, shedding light on the procedures regarding the establishment of the Council, its management, and about the Province Higher Education Regulations-2079 BS and so on. There shall be a 15-member council committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister and the Ministry of Social Development shall function as the Council Secretariat. Various province ministers including Bahadur Singh Lama and Yubraj Dulal were present in the event presided by Council vice-chair and social development minister Kumari Moktan.  

The CPN (Unified Socialist) has decided to vote in favor of the budget brought by the government. The party has decided to help in endorsing the budget after the discussion between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Finance Minister Prakash Saran Mahat and CPN (US) Chairman Madhav Nepal, party leader Rajendra Pandey said. He said that the decision was made to vote in favor of the budget after the party received the commitment to address the party’s agreement on the budget through the budget system. The budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 is going to be endorsed by the Parliament today.    

Seven persons including Bhatbhateni Supermarket Chairman Min Bahadur Gurung have been arrested in the Lalita Niwas land grab case. A team of Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police nabbed Sudhar Kumar Sah, Dharma Prasad Gautam, Kaladhar Deuja, Gopal Karki, Surendra Kapali and Bhupendra Man Shrestha from various places today. Sah is also a former election commissioner. Nepal Police spokesperson Kuber Kathayat informed that they were arrested in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab case. It has been learnt that they will be presented before the government attorney office today itself to extend the remand. Spokesperson Kathayat said that the necessary investigation will be started after the extension of the remand. Bhatbhateni Supermarket Chairman Gurung was released after posting a bail of Rs 20 million set by the Special Court on February 3, 2021. Earlier on January 6, the CIB had submitted a report of investigation to the government attorney office making 300 people defendants in the Lalita Niwas case.    

The government has backtracked from its decision to scrap district election offices. The government backed out after the CPN-UML and the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmakers obstructed the Parliament meeting on Tuesday demanding that the decision to scrap the district election offices be rolled back. In the meeting, Finance Minister Prakash Saran Mahat expressed his commitment not to confine the district elections offices within the district administration office. “We had not said that the offices will be scrapped in the context of commission. Election offices will remain as they are,” he said. Minister Mahat said that the government will not deviate from the belief that ordinary citizens can freely participate in the elections in a fair and fearless environment. “We will guarantee the independence of the Election Commission. Initiatives will be taken to make the district election offices more independent and effective,” he said. Saying that they stand in favor of the independent existence of the Election Commission, he expressed his commitment that the government will do its best not to create doubt on the same, Minister Mahat said. Earlier, in the Parliament meeting today, the CPN-UML and the Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmakers staged a protest against the proposal to bring the district election offices under the CDO office.