HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE
KATHMANDU: Newly appointed Managing Director of Nepal Telecom (NT) Budhi Prasad Acharya assumed office on Sunday amid the ongoing protest by staff members. Engineers of the company are in protest since Friday with a demand to replace Acharya with a new managing director who has an engineering background.
Acharya who belongs to chartered accountancy field, was appointed MD of NT by a Cabinet decision, on Thursday. After assuming office, he said that during his two-year tenure, he will put ‘all his energy on service quality improvement and expansion of services’.
Before being appointed MD, Acharya was serving the company as officiating deputy managing director (DMD) since July this year. He also said that he will be bringing programmes for career development of employees. Acharya is a chartered accountancy graduate from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Protesting engineers and technical staffs of NT have said that the appointment of a non-technical chief was a ‘planned attack on the company’. Agitating engineers have said that the government’s decision regarding the MD appointment also goes against the provision set in the Company Act and the company’s regulation.
Going by the Act, it is the board of the respective company that reserves the right to appoint the MD. However, officials at the Ministry of Information and Communications have claimed that since the government holds a majority share of 92 per cent in NT, the government has the right to appoint the chief as in the past.
On Sunday, NT Technical Group, an ad hoc struggle committee issuing a press release said that the Cabinet decision must be corrected by appointing a managing director from among senior technical officers. It claims that to make the company competitive amid a scenario whereby technology is ever-changing, it is a must to have a company head from a technical background who can make the correct policy decisions.
Dinesh Panthi, an engineer of NT said that they will submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Minister for Information and Communications Minendra Rijal on Tuesday. “Engineers and technicians will take leave and organise a sit-in programme at the central and regional offices from Monday sporting black bands,” he added.
Of the more than 5,500 employees in the company, over 4,000 are technical personnel. The protest is estimated to mainly affect maintenance works of NT services. Showing discontent over the government decision, DMDs including those who were potential candidates of managing director had also taken leave on Friday.
All previous MDs of the company were from the engineering field.
However, there is no law that makes it mandatory to appoint MD from engineering field. Besides Acharya, other DMDs — Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, Shiv Bhushan Lal, Bishnu Kasaju and Madhu Sudan Karmacharya — were in the race to be the NT chief.
- See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=New+NT+chief+assumes++office+amid+staff+protests+&NewsID=426751#sthash.6M3RNdaj.dpufAcharya who belongs to chartered accountancy field, was appointed MD of NT by a Cabinet decision, on Thursday. After assuming office, he said that during his two-year tenure, he will put ‘all his energy on service quality improvement and expansion of services’.
Before being appointed MD, Acharya was serving the company as officiating deputy managing director (DMD) since July this year. He also said that he will be bringing programmes for career development of employees. Acharya is a chartered accountancy graduate from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Protesting engineers and technical staffs of NT have said that the appointment of a non-technical chief was a ‘planned attack on the company’. Agitating engineers have said that the government’s decision regarding the MD appointment also goes against the provision set in the Company Act and the company’s regulation.
Going by the Act, it is the board of the respective company that reserves the right to appoint the MD. However, officials at the Ministry of Information and Communications have claimed that since the government holds a majority share of 92 per cent in NT, the government has the right to appoint the chief as in the past.
On Sunday, NT Technical Group, an ad hoc struggle committee issuing a press release said that the Cabinet decision must be corrected by appointing a managing director from among senior technical officers. It claims that to make the company competitive amid a scenario whereby technology is ever-changing, it is a must to have a company head from a technical background who can make the correct policy decisions.
Dinesh Panthi, an engineer of NT said that they will submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Minister for Information and Communications Minendra Rijal on Tuesday. “Engineers and technicians will take leave and organise a sit-in programme at the central and regional offices from Monday sporting black bands,” he added.
Of the more than 5,500 employees in the company, over 4,000 are technical personnel. The protest is estimated to mainly affect maintenance works of NT services. Showing discontent over the government decision, DMDs including those who were potential candidates of managing director had also taken leave on Friday.
All previous MDs of the company were from the engineering field.
However, there is no law that makes it mandatory to appoint MD from engineering field. Besides Acharya, other DMDs — Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, Shiv Bhushan Lal, Bishnu Kasaju and Madhu Sudan Karmacharya — were in the race to be the NT chief.
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