As per the existing Police Regulations, police officials not included in the list of candidates for promotion can register their complaints at the review panel within one week after recommendation is made.

The review panel includes Public Service Commission Chairperson Kayo Devi Yami, the government’s chief secretary and Law secretary.

On August 29, a promotion committee led by Home Secretary Surya Silwal had recommended 13 SSPs-Ram Kumar Khanal, Manohar Prasad Rimal, Purna Singh Khadka, Pashupati Upadhyaya, Devendra Subedi, Bijay Lal Kayastha, Madhu Prasad Pudasaini, Madhav Prasad Joshi, Kesari Raj Ghimire, Kamal Singh Bam, Mingmar Lama, Pankaj Shrestha and Madhav Prasad Nepal-for promotion to the posts of DIG.

These recommended candidates are officers of 1986 and 1987 batch of inspectors.

However, Rabi Pratap Rana and Gyanodhraj Baidhya of the 1986 batch as well as Rana Bahadur Chand and Hemanta Pal, among others, were not included in the list of candidates for promotion.

As the deadline to register their complaint is just one day away, some SSPs who are not included in the list say the review panel can do nothing as its power has been curtailed while others say they can still object to the recommendation.

"The committee can just review the marks now. They cannot add marks. So there is no point in registering complaints," said an SSP requesting anonymity. Another SSP, however, said though the power of the committee has been curtailed, it can still seek permission from the promotion committee before including the names of eligible SSPs.

A recent amendment to the Nepal Police Regulations states that the review panel has to write to the promotion committee before including or excluding any proposed names. Furthermore, another clause states that if the complaint lodged by the officers is proven wrong, their two marks will be deducted in the upcoming promotion and three marks if they lodge the complaint twice.

"The Home Ministry and the Nepal Police have played it so well that officers fear lodging complaints. It is like playing with fire," said another SSP.

Earlier, the review committee and the Home Ministry had locked their horns after the former added two names of DIGs, removing two other names recommended by the latter, while promoting the officials to the posts of Additional Inspector General of Police.

Many police officials say the curtailing of review panel and amendment to the regulations were done following pressure from Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam.