August 19: The government has appointed former secretary Mahesh Dahal as the chairman of the newly formed Revenue Board.

The Ministry of Finance has established this board to resolve the disputes related to revenue and to provide policy-level suggestions to the ministry. The Council of Ministers on Monday (August 17) appointed Dahal as the chairman of the board upon the recommendation of the ministry.

The Revenue Board was formed after a long preparation. Before the formation of the board, there wasn’t any permanent mechanism to deal with revenue-related disputes.

In lack of such mechanism, a Revenue Advisory Committee headed by the revenue secretary used to collect suggestions related to revenue every year before the announcement of annual budget.

With the formation of the board, all such issues will be handled by the board itself. The board will regularly provide suggestions to the government and also conduct study and research on issues related to revenue. It will also deal with revenue collection and its management as well as controlling the leakage.

After his appointment, Dahal said he would fulfill his duties to the best of his ability. He added that the will take the private sector in confidence while increasing revenue and in dealing with controversial issues.

The cabinet has also appointed Nirmal Hari Adhikari as a member of the board. Adhikari had retired from government service as a joint secretary at the finance ministry. The post of another member of the board is currently vacant.

The board consists of a chairman and two members only.

Dahal and  Adhikari were the only contenders for their respective posts.

The concept of Revenue Board was envisaged by the then UML government 24 years ago. In 1996, the then finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari had announced the formation of the board.

Later, the proposal to form the board was backed by finance ministers Baburam Bhattarai, Ram Sharan Mahat, Krishna Bahadur Mahara as well as Bishnu Poudel but they failed to implement it.

The incumbent Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada had expedited the process of formation of the board.

The present government had announced to replace the Revenue Advisory Committee by the  Revenue Board.