Jhapa Chief District Officer Chandra Bahadur Karki became the highest-ranking bureaucrat to be accused of presenting fake academic certificates for promotion. For the first time, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a case against a joint secretary level (first-class) official. CIAA filed a case against Karki at Patan Appellate Court after obtaining necessary evidence to establish their case.
Two other senior officials, under secretaries at the Ministry of Land Reform and Management Phatte Bahadur Batuwa and Sanat Kumar Regmi at its Lalitpur office have been charged of presenting fake academic qualifications for promotions. CIAA estimates that approximately 50,000 government employees have presented fake qualifications for promotion and recruitment. Presently, CIAA is investigating the academic qualifications of more than 100 joint secretaries and under secretaries. These are officials who had obtained their certificates from 12 different universities in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.