A cabinet meeting held in Singha Durbar on Sunday afternoon unanimously took the decision to this effect. "The cabinet meeting unanimously decided to appoint Leela Mani Paudyal, who was secretary at the prime minister office (PMO), as the acting chief secretary. He will automatically be promoted as the chief secretary after the sitting Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire retires on Aug 6," said Information and Communications Minister Rajkishor Yadav after the meeting.[break]
Ghimire is on leave from Sunday.
The cabinet had picked Paudyal as chief secretary from among 12 secretaries in the fray. Secretaries Shankar Prasad Koirala, Abnindra Kumar Shrestha, Baman Prasad Neupane, Shyam Mainali, Bhagawati Kumar Kafle, Tana Gautam, Sushil Jung Rana, Leela Mani Paudyal, Brinda Hada, Balanand Poudel, Umakant Jha and Tilochan Uprety were among those in competition for the top bureaucratic post.
The cabinet meeting started four hours after the scheduled time as top leaders of the coalition partners engaged in four-and-half hour negotiation in a bid to forge consensus on naming Ghimire´s successor.
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Chairman of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) Mahantha Thakur had arrived in PMO to finalize the name.
Emerging from the meeting of the ruling parties, Thakur told media persons that they drew the attention of the UCPN (Maoist) to making bureaucracy inclusive. However, Dahal avoided media persons.
According to Yadav, who is also a leader of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Republican, they had stressed on picking chief secretary from Madhesi or indigenous community. "Umakanta Jha was proposed as a candidate from the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), Brinda Hada from among women and Abnindra Kumar Shrestha from indigenous community."
Chief Secy´s profile
Born in Baletaksar VDC-5 in Gulmi district, Paudyal joined Civil Service 23 years ago as Gazetted Third Class Officer. During his civil service career he has served in various capacities in several ministries.
After his promotion to Gazetted First Class officer in 1998, Paudyal served in various capacities, including as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Industry Commerce and Supplies and Ministry of Local Development. Paudyal also served as Consular General for Tibet Autonomous Region of China from November 2003 to July 2007 till his promotion to the post of Secretary.
Paudyal was the Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (November, 2007 to October, 2008), Ministry of Information and Communication (November, 2008 to March, 2009), Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (March, 2009 to May, 2011) and Ministry of Home Affairs (May, 2011 to September, 2011).
Since September 2011, Paudyal had been serving at Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Besides his regular bureaucratic responsibilities, Paudyal is also involved in research and publications works. He has authored a book on Internal Auditing Theory and Practices in the Nepalese Perspectives and many research works in areas of education, trade, community development, financial management and personal management.
Paudyal is deemed as fearless and aggressive administrator. Though many of his contemporaries deem him harsh in his personal behavior with colleagues and juniors, Paudyal is known for his commitment to hard work, austerity measures and financial transparency.
In bureaucratic circle, Paudyal is considered leftist in terms of his belief in political ideology. He had been able to make to the post of Chief Secretary due to strong backing from the UCPN (Maoist) in general and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai in particular, leaving behind Shanker Koirala, who was ranked first in terms of seniority.
Related story
Foreign Minister Paudyal discusses connectivity issue with Sri...
