Ministry of Supplies Secretary Shreedhar Sapkota and NOC Managing Director Gopal Bahadur Khadka on Tuesday traded charges at each other over granting permission to bottlers to own gas bullets.

In a meeting of the Industry Committee of the Legislature Parliament on Tuesday, Ministry of Supplies Secretary Shreedhar Sapkota said that the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) refused to comply with the directives issued by the Ministry. He said that NOC should carry out its operations as per the Company Act 2063.

Secretary Sapkota questioned his role as a board member of the NOC at a time when the state run oil monopoly has been blatantly refusing to abide by the Ministry's directives.

During the meeting, the Supply Ministry Secretary said that the NOC should issue the public shares and increase the paid-up capital.

At the meeting, NOC Managing Director Gopal Bahadur Khadka complained that the Ministry didn’t co-operate the NOC during difficult times. 

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee has directed the Supplies Ministry to continue its earlier decision regarding allowing the Nepali gas bottlers to acquire gas bullets. 

Earlier on July 20, the ministry scrapped the NOC decision to allow the bottlers to own 600 gas bullets. The NOC had granted permission to Nepal LP Gas Industry Association to acquire bullets.