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🇳🇵 Nepal /Crime & Justice

Nepal moves to reclaim 31-year-old encroached land in Kathmandu

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • The Nepali government has decided to implement a 31-year-old report identifying over 1,859 ropani of encroached public land in Kathmandu.
  • The Ministry of Land Management has directed departments to freeze any transactions involving the identified land, preventing ownership changes.
  • The decision faces skepticism regarding its feasibility, given the time elapsed and potential multiple ownership changes, though supporters hail it as a long-overdue recovery of public assets.

Nepal's government has officially committed to reclaiming over 1,859 ropani (approximately 94.5 hectares) of public land in Kathmandu that has been illegally occupied. This decision, stemming from a high-level commission report submitted 31 years ago, aims to reverse decades of encroachment and convert public assets into private estates.

The Ministry of Land Management, Co-operatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration has initiated the process by instructing the Department of Land Management and Archives and the Department of Survey to freeze all government and public land identified in the 1995 Rawal Commission report. This directive prevents any sale, transfer, or registration of ownership for the affected parcels until further notice.

land listed in the commission’s report as encroached cannot be bought, sold, transferred, registered in another person’s name, or otherwise subjected to any change in ownership until further notice.

— Ministry of Land Management directiveOutlining the immediate impact of the decision to freeze encroached land.

The move, approved by a Cabinet meeting on June 12, has ignited a national debate about its practical implementation. While proponents view it as a crucial step to recover state property, critics and legal experts question the feasibility of reclaiming land that may have changed hands multiple times over three decades. Past governments have failed to act on the commission's findings despite public pressure and even a Supreme Court directive.

Ministry spokesperson Ganesh Prasad Bhatta acknowledged the challenges, stating that a facilitation committee has 15 days to prepare an implementation roadmap. Questions remain about how to handle land parcels previously frozen but later released by court orders, or those sold to several buyers. Bhatta assured that decisions would be made after reviewing court rulings, with the ultimate goal of restoring government property to state ownership.

implementation would take time because a facilitation committee formed by the ministry had been given 15 days to prepare a roadmap.

— Ganesh Prasad BhattaResponding to questions about the timeline for enforcing the report.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Kathmandu Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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