KATHMANDU: Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balen Shah has reversed his own controversial decision to strip four ward chairs of their committee responsibilities, following sustained pressure from elected representatives and internal resistance.
Earlier, Mayor Shah had unilaterally removed ward chairs Asaram Sangat, Macharaja Maharjan, Khyamraj Tiwari, and Nabin Manandhar from their roles in key municipal committees — heritage and tourism, legislation, good governance, and information technology, respectively — assigning the positions to other ward chairs without convening an executive meeting.
The move drew sharp backlash from those affected, who accused Shah of acting arbitrarily and warned him against bypassing the municipal executive body in such decisions.
Adding to the pushback, the newly assigned committee heads — including Ward 5 Chair Birendra Prajapati, Ward 30 Chair Dal Bahadur Karki, and Ward 8 Chair Binod Kumar Rajbhandari — refused to accept the roles, arguing that the appointments had not been formally approved by the city’s executive.
In the case of the legislation committee, Ward 16 Chair Rojina Shrestha had been assigned the role.
The backlash intensified as Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol led an informal meeting of the executive and municipal assembly members, exerting collective pressure on the mayor to reverse the reshuffle. Shah, who has not been holding regular executive meetings in recent weeks, eventually gave in to the demands.
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