Himal Press 
Left Photo: CIJ
KATHMANDU: The government has finally decided to implement the long-delayed 1995 report of the High-Level Commission on Investigation and Protection of Government and Public Land, commonly known as the Rawal Commission Report, 31 years after it was prepared.
A cabinet meeting held on Friday decided to implement the report, complying with a directive order issued by the Supreme Court. The Cabinet also decided to maintain a systematic national record of government and public land and ensure its protection. It also instructed the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration to carry out the process.
The decision paves the way for the recovery of all public and government land identified as encroached upon in the Rawal Commission report based on the 1964 cadastral survey. The report had documented encroachment of 1,859 ropani, 14 aana, 3 paisa, and 3 daam of public and government land across all 35 wards of the then Kathmandu Municipality.
Prime Minister’s Press and Research Expert Deepa Dahal said the cabinet decision has cleared the way for the implementation of the report, which was long overdue, as per the legal process and through inter-agency coordination.
The commission was formed in January 1993 by the government led by then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and chaired by former secretary Ram Bahadur Rawal. It submitted its report after two years of study. However, the report remained largely ignored for decades. The 1,350-page document has never been officially made public, according to an investigative report prepared by the Center for Investigative Journalism.
The commission found extensive encroachment of public land in areas including Chabahil, Bouddha, Battisputali, Thapathali, Baneshwor, Koteshwor, Handigaun and Budhanilkantha. Encroached area included ponds, temples, rivers, wells, stone spouts, guthi land, public pathways and roads.
Several attempts were made to implement the report over the years. Various committees were formed to investigate encroachments, dispose of occupied land or recommend corrective measures. However, none produced meaningful results.
In 2003, advocate Prakash Mani Sharma filed a public interest litigation seeking protection of public land. In 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the government to implement the Rawal Commission report and form a committee to recommend within three months how encroached public land could be reclaimed. The committee comprised the secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Joint Attorney General of the Office of the Attorney General, among others. However, the powerful committee failed to work effectively.
More recently, Balendra Shah, when he was mayor of Kathmandu, launched efforts to identify and recover encroached public land in the Kathmandu Valley. In November 2025, he claimed that 208 ropani of public land worth around Rs 23 billion had been recovered. He also set a target of reclaiming the entire 1,859 ropani, worth around Rs 200 billion, identified by the Rawal Commission.
With Friday’s cabinet decision, the government has formally initiated the process of implementing the decades-old report and reclaiming encroached public land.
