The Special Court on Wednesday acquitted the suspended chief secretary Baikuntha Aryal in a corruption case.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in June had filed a Rs386.7 million corruption case against a company and 11 people, including Aryal, at the court over their alleged involvement in irregularities related to the printing of excise duty stickers.

As the bench of Special Court chair Tek Narayan Kunwar and judges Khusi Prasad Tharu and Ritendra Thapa acquitted 10 accused including Aryal, it convicted then executive director Bikal Paudel and director Safal Shrestha in the case.

The government suspended Aryal and transferred him to the National Planning Commission creating a special position subsequently after the anti-graft body chargesheeted in the corruption case against him.

At present Eak Narayan Aryal is the chief secretary while suspended Aryal still has one year before he retires from the civil service.

“There can’t be two officials in the same position of the chief secretary,” legal expert Madhav Prasad Paudel told the Post. He said Baikuntha Aryal may be given continuity in the commission, where he was transferred after creating a position equal to the hierarchy of the chief secretary.

After the success of the people’s movement in 2006, the government had suspended the then chief secretary Lokman Singh Karki and transferred him to the commission.

The Special Court also acquitted deputy director general Tanka Prasad Pandey of the Department of the Customs, Joint Secretary Ritesh Kumar Shakya of the Finance Ministry, Inland Revenue Department Director Ganesh Bikram Shahi, other officers Rabindra Prasad Paudel, Bishnu Prasad Gautam, Hariballav Paudel, procurement consultant Shakti Prasad Shrestha, Director of Printshell Pvt Ltd Keshav Sharma in the case.

The anti-graft body at the time of filing the case had said that proceeding with the purchase of excise duty stickers was contrary to the performance agreement between the secretary of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and the executive director of the Security Printing Centre.

The case implicating Aryal had asserted that during his tenure as secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, Baikuntha Aryal was responsible for the irregularities in the procurement and handling of excise duty stickers.

The CIAA can appeal the Special Court’s verdict at the Supreme Court.