Nepal all set to revoke Rathods’ Everest certificates KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of Nepal has told the Director General at the Department of Tourism to revoke the Everest summit certificates that the Department issued to an Indian couple who presented the morphed photographs showing themselves on the top of the world’s highest peak. In response to a letter sent by the DoT on Monday asking the Ministry to cancel summit certificates of Dinesh Chandrakant Rathod and his wife Tarkeshwari Chandrakant Bhelerao, both police constables from Maharashtra, the Ministry on Wednesday decided to authorise the DoT DG Sudarshan Prasad Dhakal to cancel their certificates as per the existing Tourism Act and the Mountaineering Regulation. Joint secretary Ghanashyam Updhyay, who heads the Human Resource Management and Tourism Promotion Division in the Ministry, told THT Online that the DG could now nullify the couple’s certificates as they obtained the papers by submitting altered photos to the DoT. As the DoT has already concluded that the couple cheated the Department by submitting their morphed photos to obtain the Everest summit certificates on June 10, the Director General, who is now in India to attend a tourism event, would cancel both certificates once he returns to Kathmandu in a day or two, Upadhyay added. As per the Act, the couple may be banned from entering into Nepal for a period up to five years or for mountaineering in Nepal for a period up to 10 years. According to him, the Ministry also set up a three-member committee under the leadership of Under-Secretary Tika Ram Pandey* to investigate into the Rathods’ case in details and give a comprehensive report within 15 days. “The Ministry has also named Director of Mountaineering Section Laxman Sharma and official photographer Ram Krishna Maharjan as members of the probe panel,” he said. According to him, the panel will interview climbing Sherpas, expedition organising company, concerned Liaison Officer and others. “The committee will also check the veracity of Rathods’ claims by examining the photographs the couple submitted to the DoT,” he added. After cancelling the certificates, the panel will also examine the roles of climbing Sherpas, trekking agency and Liaison Officer to inspire the Rathods to play foul and recommend necessary action against them if found guilty. “The panel shall also make necessary recommendations to the Ministry for averting such incidents in future,” he informed. The Rathods had obtained certificates from the DoT allegedly by submitting morphed pictures that showed themselves to the top of the summit on May 23 while Liaison Officer Ganesh Prasad Timsina, climbing Sherpas – Furba and Fursemba - and Makalu Adventure Treks approved the couple’s claims. The expedition organising company had also admitted in its clarification that the photos were morphed, but it blamed the climbing Sherpas for the goof. The photos submitted by Rathod couple to the DoT as proofs were found faked after Satyarup Siddhantha, a climber from Bangalore, accused the police couple of plagiarising his summit photos taken while the Bengaluru climber had scaled the mountain on May 21. The panel is also open to examine all documents related to the mountaineering expeditions including the summit certificates issued to climbers in the last spring season, according to Upadhyay. The Ministry’s move also coincides with the revelation of a sheer negligence on part of the Liaison Officers as a half of LOs – 15 of the 32 designated by the government – have been found to have breached the Regulation while recommending Everest summit certificates to climbers this season. Without even making it to the Everest base camp, the 15 LOs ranging from non-gazetted first class to undersecretary positions, are found to have attested 225 climbers - 103 foreigners and their 122 climbing Sherpas - as eligible for the summit certificates. Penalties as per the Tourism Act and the Mountaineering Expedition Regulation Agency/ Climbing Sherpas *Corrected on July 8, 2016.