The Sher Bahadur Deuba government has cancelled the appointment of ambassadors in various 11 countries.

A Cabinet meeting on Friday decided to cancel the ambassadorial appointment in 11 countries made by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli government, a minister told the Post.

The Oli government on May 8 had recommended ambassadors to 11 countries.

The recommendation had landed in controversy as the Cabinet had amended the criteria for ambassadorial appointment to suit certain individuals.

The Cabinet had amended the eligibility criteria that any individual must have completed bachelor’s degree to become an ambassador, with this provision not applicable in the case of those who have served as ministers.

The move was challenged in the Supreme Court, which on June 27 issued an interim order to not appoint former Yuvaraj Karki, a former minister, as Nepal's Ambassador to Bahrain, saying the appointee did not have the required qualification.

“In the absence of the parliamentary hearing, as the House had been dissolved, 45 days after their recommendation, we had sent the names of these ambassador appointees to respective countries,” said a senior Foreign Ministry official. “Now, we have sent letters to all 11 countries for cancellation of their agreement process.”

The Oli government had recommended Nirmal Raj Kafle and Jeevan Prakash Shrestha, joint secretaries at the Foreign Ministry, for Austria and Egypt, respectively.

Former head of the Central Department of English of Tribhuvan University Krishna Chandra Sharma was recommended for South Korea, a position that has been vacant for more than two years.

Sumnima Tuladhar, a noted child rights activist, was recommended for Australia. She is the daughter of well-known human rights activist late Padma Ratna Tuladhar.

The other appointees were former mayor of Biratnagar Metropolitan City Ramesh Chandra Poudel for Sri Lanka, Narayan Prasad Sangraula for Myanmar, Kul Prasad Nepal For Brazil, Sumitra Subedi for Denmark, Meraj Musalman for Saudi Arabia and Janga Bahadur Chauhan for Russia.

Sangraula was a professor of history and Nepal is a former lawmaker of Palpa district from the CPN-UML. Subedi is a primary school teacher in Jhapa district

Musalman is from Kapilvastu district and has been long associated with UML’s Muslim wing. Chauhan is a professor of English at Kathmandu University.

Of the 11 appointees, two were from foreign service and nine were recommended under the political quota.