No rule of law in country: CIAA chief

Kathmandu, December 10-Chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Surya Nath Upadhayay, on friday said there was no rule of law in the country. “We have rules but we do not have rule of law in the country,” Upadhayay said. He condemned the laxity in applying laws. “We have Acts but they are not applied strictly,” he said while speaking at a programme on Effort to Control Corruption: Problems and Challenges organised by the REMAC Nepal to mark anti-corruption day . Upadhayay added that this laxity had only encouraged corruption in the country.

“Unless we properly handle corruption we cannot control it,” he opined. He cited cases of corruption in Tribhuvan International Airport, hospitals, transportation offices and education and tax offices.“No one is ready to control corruption and irregularities unless pressed to do so,” he added.

“I have often called concerned authorities to check corruption but they don’t act unless warned,” he added. Upadhayay said corruption begins right from the appointment of government officials. The Acting Chief of the National Vigilance Centre (NVC), Krishna Man Shrestha, said the NVC would launch effective programmes to control irregularities in several offices soon. Frederic G Yeagar, the chief of the ARD rule of law project, claimed that due to the CIAA and other anti-corruption bodies awareness against corruption had increased. He added that the civil society and the non-governmental organisations should work to control corruption.