KATHMANDU: Four posts for the Secretary are vacant after Rishi Raj Sharma, who was working at the National Vigilance Center on Wednesday, retired due to age limit.

Earlier, Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture Rajendra Bhari got compulsory retirement on October 16.

Similarly, Secretary of the Nepal Law Commission Chiranjivi Khanal retired on October 18. The Commission is without a Secretary.

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministers have five secretaries. However, a post of Secretary is lying vacant at the PMO after Yadav Koirala shifted to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism last month by handing over the room to Deputy Prime Minister Ishwor Pokharel.

Likewise, four posts of Secretaries will be vacant soon at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

Gokarnamani Dawadi, joint secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, has been seen as a strong contender for the post of Secretary at the administration service on the basis of seniority.

Even though he was recommended for promotion to the post of Secretary for five times on the basis of seniority, juniors including Bishnu Nepal, Man Bahadur BK, Chandraman Shrestha and Madhu Marasini have already become secretaries.

While Bishnu Nepal is currently the chief secretary of Gandaki province, Bika is the chief secretary of Bagmati Province.

Likewise, Shrestha is the chief secretary of Karnali province, while Marasini is commanding the office of the Controller of the Auditor General’s Office as soon as he got promoted to the Secretary.

Along with Duwadi, Suman Aryal and Bharatmani Subedi are the candidates for the post of secretary.

Similarly, Yogendra Kumar Karki, who was supposed to become Secretary on the basis of seniority, is also lagging behind.

On the basis of seniority, Rajendra Bhari, who was recommended to be promoted to the post of secretary, was promoted to Secretary earlier this year. He hails from the district Agriculture Minister Ghanshyam Bhusal.

Along with Karki, Govind Sharma, Krishna Acharya and Bimal Kumar Nirmal are in the line to become Secretaries at the technical sector.

As soon as Shankar Das Bairagi became the Chief Secretary, Joint Secretaries are being promoted to the post of Secretary for the first time.