NTB employee union urges govt for CEO

The employee union at Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), today, during its first annual general meeting expressed its dissatisfaction over the government’s failure to appoint a chief executive officer.

During the programme, president of the Nepal Tourism Board employee union Pradip Basnet said that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has not shown any interest in the appointment process.

“It has been around 21 months since the board has been working without a CEO,” said Basnet. He also said that the government has also not shown any concern in appointing an acting CEO until the board makes a final selection of a CEO.

The 187th meeting of NTB’s executive committee, on July 15, had appointed Subash Nirola as acting CEO but some dissatisfied people who have applied for the post of the chief executive filed a petition against the appointment of an acting CEO.

Later, the Appellate Court issued a stay order against the appointment of an acting CEO and later it directed NTB to scrap the executive meeting’s decision.

Prior to it, one of the applicants had filed a petition claiming that the two-member sub-committee was against the law and should not be allowed to shortlist and select applicants for the final process. The court is yet to give its verdict on the stay order regarding the formation of a two-member sub-committee. NTB has been without a CEO since October 2011. At the programme, representatives from the union said that the tourism board does have a good budget but the condition of NTB is not satisfactory due to the absence of a head to monitor the board.

Representatives also suggested the board to allow representation of NTB employee union at the NTB board. According to the union, NTB is at its worst situation and the government should decide at the earliest on the effective management of the board.

source: the himalayan times,5 Sep 2013