Council of Ministers abolishes education and health parity fees, declares fake meter badge documents illegal

Kathmandu: The meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Government of Nepal held on 2083 Shrawan 6 has taken several important decisions, including judicial appointments, tourism promotion measures and the abolition of education and health parity fees.

The meeting decided to appoint High Court Tulsipur Justice Vasudev Acharya as the President of the Special Court and High Court Surkhet Justice Dipendra Adhikari as the President of the Labor Court. It also appointed Shailesh Raj Kunwar as the Administrator of Guthi Sansthan.

To promote tourism, the government has decided to completely waive parking, landing and navigation fees for regular international flights operating from Pokhara International Airport and Gautam Buddha International Airport until mid-Bhadra 2085 BS. The decision also includes a 50 percent discount on ground handling fees.

The Council of Ministers approved the agreement reached on 17 August 2083 between the committee formed to address the demands of citizens affected by metered rates and representatives of the farmers-laborers' movement against metered rates. According to the agreement, fake documents related to metered rates issued from 17 August have been declared illegal.

Similarly, the government has formed a judicial inquiry committee under the coordination of former High Court judge Keshav Prasad Bastola to investigate the facts surrounding Ganesh Nepali’s self-immolation incident.

The meeting also decided to completely waive the education parity fee and health parity fee as per sub-section (1) of Section 18 of the Finance Act, 2083. With this decision, the 3 percent parity fee imposed on private education and health sectors has been abolished.