Govt. makes public details of land owned by the royalties

Officials say they have compiled details of over 3,400 ropanis of land (approx. 1,700 hectares) owned by King Gyanendra and other members of the royal family so far.

Presenting report of the findings at the Natural Resources committee of the House of Representatives on Friday, Minister of Land Reforms and Management, Prabhu Narayan Chaudhari, said over 20,000 ropanis of Nagarjun at the outskirts of Kathmandu was owned by the king as his private property. He said the king owned nearly 9,000 ropanis of land in Kathmandu alone.

The minister said the king owned 34 bighas of land in Latikoili VDC in mid-western district of Surkhet and land holdings in Makwanpur, Gorkha, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Kathmandu districts also.

According to information compiled by the Ministry and made public today, late king Birendra owned over 3,000 ropanis of land as forest area in Kathmandu. Details were not available.

The minister said he has already directed all the land revenue offices across the country to compile details of the royal property and send it to the ministry as soon as possible.

Members of the parliamentary committee rapped the minister for what they said incomplete details of the royal property and asked the minister to report to the committee on Sunday, August 13, with full details.

In its proclamation on May 18, the House of Representatives had made royal income and private property of the king and royal family members taxable.

According to the five-year-old amendment in the Land Reforms Act, people are allowed to own 25 ropanis of land in the capital valley, up to 70 ropanis of land in the hills and up to ten bighas of land in the terai.

Officials have not said what will happen to the excess land owned by the royal family members.