KATHMANDU: Hitendra Dev Shakya formally resumed his duties as Managing Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Wednesday, following a Supreme Court decision that annulled the government’s move to transfer him to a newly created post.
A bench of Justices Nahakul Subedi and Shreekanta Paudel issued an interim order reinstating Shakya, on Monday, ruling that the decision to shift him to the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat as an energy expert was unjustified. The court observed that the proposal leading to his transfer appeared biased and retaliatory, stressing that such arbitrary actions cannot stand under the rule of law.
Shakya had filed a writ petition on November 7 challenging the government’s decision to remove him. His transfer was initiated shortly after Energy Minister Kulman Ghising assumed office in the Sushila Karki-led interim government.
The Cabinet had created a special position at the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat to relocate Shakya, and on September 21 appointed former NEA Deputy Executive Director Manoj Silwal as the new managing director.
The leadership change was widely viewed as part of a political tug-of-war surrounding the NEA. Earlier, on March 24, the KP Sharma Oli-led Cabinet had removed Ghising, credited with ending Nepal’s chronic load-shedding, and appointed Shakya in his place. Ghising strongly opposed the decision, calling it politically motivated, which drew significant public and civil society backlash.
Following the Gen Z protests that toppled the Oli government, Ghising returned to power as Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation. Reports suggest that Ghising’s 2021 push to recover billions in unpaid dues from industries using dedicated and trunk power lines had contributed to his earlier removal as NEA managing director, a dispute that continues to influence leadership shifts within the authority.
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