The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Thursday directed the government to stop its controversial move to outsource the visa processing job to a private firm.

A meeting of the PAC also decided to investigate the preparations made by the government by collecting related documents. A proposal in the regard tabled by the Home Ministry at the Cabinet has drawn widespread criticism.

The Home and Finance ministries have reportedly pushed a deal secretly with a private firm.

Officials involved in negotiations are suspected to have been drafting bidding documents to suit the company in question. The ministries apparently decided to hand over the responsibility of visa processing to a foreign company for 15 years.

The State Affairs Committee (SAC) of the House took up the issue on Thursday, summoning Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Bam Dev Gautam for a meeting. The SAC has directed the government to submit all the documents within 15 days for an investigation. The committee asked the ministry to report all the tasks carried out in the immigration sector in the past three months.

At the SAC meeting, lawmakers criticised the Home Ministry’s preparations, suspecting corruption. NC lawmaker Arjun Prasad Joshi demanded clarification from Minister Gautam. Lawmakers Sanjaya Gautam, Yagya Raj Sunuwar, Rabindra Pratap Shah, Nabindra Raj Joshi and Gopal Man Shrestha also asked him to clarify the matter.

A meeting of the International Relations and Labour Committee of Parliament also discussed the issue. DPM Gautam told the SAC meeting that although there had been “theoretical decisions”, the contractor was yet to be selected.

He, however, said that since the country “lacks an organisation capable of providing such services, it is necessary to seek assistance from an international firm”.

Gautam’s bid has met criticism from his own party CPN-UML. Its senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has said such a decision would harm national interests.

In a statement on Thursday, the UCPN (Maoist) objected to the move saying that it would “hurt national interests”.

Published on: 27 March 2015 | The Kathmandu Post