The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has relieved commissioner Sabitri Thapa Gurung of her responsibility pending a court verdict on the case against her over benefiting “dual facility”.

A CIAA meeting on Wednesday took the decision to facilitate a primary investigation into complaints until the court clears questions regarding her judicial status on the sub judice case. The anti-graft body has said that the writ against Gurung has raised a question over integrity of the commissioner as well as fairness of the anti-graft body. A writ has been filed against Gurung, who is a professor at the Tribhuvan University, was found to have been receiving salary from both the offices.

She was assigned the responsibility to hold preliminary investigations of complaints related to Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Irrigation, Foreign Ministry, Defence, Urban Development, Commerce and Supplies and other bodies working under these ministries. She had also been looking into complaints registered at commission’s regional office and contact centres in Surkhet, Dipayal, Kanchanpur and Kohalpur.  

Gurung, who was appointed on the Nepali Congress quota, has also been relieved of the responsibility of evaluation and implementation of the commission decisions.

 “The responsibility has been changed in line with the rights granted by the CIAA Act,” a CIAA source told the post. “Further decisions will be based on court’s verdict.”

The CIAA Act-2048 mandates the chief commissioner to allocate responsibilities of commissioners and withdraw them on his own.