Parliamentary probe demanded into appointment of Software Centre executive director

Khushbu Oli, chief whip of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, has demanded the formation of a parliamentary inquiry committee into the appointment of the executive director of the Software Development and Operation Centre under the Prime Minister's Office. Speaking at the House of Representatives meeting on Thursday, she alleged policy-level collusion and corruption from within the Prime Minister's Office itself in the appointment process.

According to the sequence of events Oli presented in parliament, an internal task force was formed on Jestha 12 to draft the centre's rules and procedures. She claimed that the coordinator of that same task force wrote the qualification and examination criteria for the post and was later appointed to that very position.

The Council of Ministers had approved the centre's formation order on Bhadra 4. She said a short-list of applicants was hastily prepared on Asoj 1, with interviews held the very next day. Oli alleged that although the Council of Ministers made its decision on the day of the interview itself, the notice was not made public for five days.

As evidence, she showed the House a post the appointee had put up on LinkedIn and a photo of him celebrating by cutting a cake with Prime Minister's Office staff. She said serious questions arise about the government's good governance and transparency when such things happen within the prime minister's own office.

She demanded that the inquiry committee investigate the role of everyone involved in this process.