The positions of chairperson and members had been vacant at the PSC since February 16 after outgoing Chair Kayodevi Yami completed her term. Mainali’s name was proposed by PM Sushil Koirala, who chaired the meeting. Mainali was the home secretary during the first Constituent Assembly election in 2008. He had served at the Prime Minister’s Office earlier. In August 2009, he resigned as the secretary after he was transferred to the President’s Office as its principal secretary, expressing reservations about the promotion of Madhav Ghimire, his junior, as the chief secretary. During deposed king Gyanendra’s regime, he was denied responsibility for being a “democrat”.

As the request of CC member Pushpa Kamal Dahal to make the recommendations inclusive, the meeting later decided to add two members from Madhesi and women quotas. Former Irrigation Secretary Brinda Hada Bhattarai and Brahma Dev Ray, a retiree from the Staff College, were added. Ray is from the Madhesi quota. Bhattarai and former deputy chief of National Investigation Department Sri Purush Dhakal were picked from the Maoist quota while Krishna Chandra Jha was named a PSC member with the backing of the ruling Nepali Congress.

The decision was made public by Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudyal. On the CPN (UML) quota, former Home Secretary Govinda Kusum and Ashok Kumar Jha, who worked as a psychologist at the PSC for some time, have been recommended.

The names were agreed unanimously after going through the roster maintained by the Council secretariat—the PMO. These names will be forwarded to the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee for approval before the President appoints them.

Another meeting of the Council on Friday is expected to recommended commissioners for the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority.