KATHMANDU: Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balen Shah has withdrawn his earlier unilateral decision to remove committee responsibilities from four ward chairs after facing strong opposition from elected representatives and internal dissent.

The ward chairs affected were Asaram Sangat, Macharaja Maharjan, Khemraj Tiwari, and Nabin Manandhar, who were stripped of their roles in the heritage and tourism, legislation, good governance, and information technology committees respectively.

Mayor Shah had reassigned these committee roles to other ward chairs without consulting or convening the municipal executive body.

The move sparked sharp criticism from the displaced ward chairs, who accused the mayor of bypassing proper procedures. Additionally, those newly assigned to the committees—including Ward 5 Chair Birendra Prajapati, Ward 30 Chair Dal Bahadur Karki, Ward 8 Chair Binod Kumar Rajbhandari, and Ward 16 Chair Rojina Shrestha for legislation—refused to accept their appointments, citing lack of formal approval by the executive.

The backlash grew as Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol convened an informal meeting of the municipal executive and assembly members to collectively press the mayor to reverse the changes.

After weeks without regular executive meetings, Mayor Shah ultimately relented and reinstated the ward chairs’ committee responsibilities.