Green Army Registration Cancelled, Questions Now Turn to the Authorities That Approved It
Dragon Media Correspondent
The registration of the controversial “Green Army,” which had been operating with a military-style name, uniform, rank insignia and organisational structure, has been cancelled. The organisation came under intense scrutiny after appearing in the field in military-style uniforms following the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli floods, raising serious questions about its legal status, role and the approvals it had received from state agencies. A senior military source has confirmed that its registration was recently cancelled.
Dragon Media had previously raised questions through its news reports and analyses over the organisation’s use of the name “Army,” military-style uniforms, rank structures such as “marshal” and “cadet,” and the legal basis on which a private organisation had been permitted to adopt such a form. With the registration now cancelled, scrutiny no longer rests solely on the organisation itself. It has shifted to the government and security institutions that enabled its registration, approval and operation.
Green Army was registered with the Office of the Company Registrar in Shrawan 2077 BS as a non-profit company. Its stated objective was to provide school-level students with training in environmental protection, waste management, first aid and disaster management. However, questions over its legality intensified after it began using green paramilitary-style uniforms, rank insignia and structures resembling those of the Nepal Army and Armed Police Force, including titles such as “marshal” and “cadet.”
More significantly, information has emerged indicating that the organisation had received approval from state institutions to adopt such a military-style appearance. According to available details, the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, authorised the organisation to use military-like uniforms and rank structures with the approval of the ministries of Defence and Home Affairs. Then Chief of Army Staff Purna Chandra Thapa and Nepal Army Major General Ananta Bahadur Karki have also been linked to the approval process. Military officials have said that Thapa later asked the Kathmandu administration to correct the approval he had previously granted.
Kathmandu Chief District Officer Ishwar Raj Poudel has said the authorities are examining how such permission was granted. Meanwhile, Social Welfare Council Member Secretary Chakra Bahadur Budha has stated that Green Army’s affiliation with the council has not yet been cancelled.
Security experts and former Nepal Army officers have maintained that a private organisation should not be permitted to use a name, uniform or command structure resembling that of the armed forces. They have pointed out that even the legally established National Cadet Corps does not use the word “Army” in its name, making the adoption of a military identity by a non-profit company legally and institutionally questionable.
The cancellation of Green Army’s registration resolves one immediate aspect of the controversy, but the central questions remain unanswered. How was a non-profit company allowed to use the word “Army”? Under which law was it authorised to use military-style uniforms and ranks? How did the ministries of Defence and Home Affairs, the district administration and security institutions become involved in such a decision? And why was the organisation allowed to continue operating in the same form even after concerns were raised over the approval?
Officials have described the registration and operational arrangement of Green Army as an exploitation of legal loopholes. Registering it as a non-profit company, obtaining separate administrative permission for military-style uniforms and affiliating it with the Social Welfare Council as a social organisation have been cited as evidence of weaknesses and gaps between different regulatory mechanisms.
Cancelling Green Army’s registration alone does not provide a complete answer. The state must now clarify the decision-making process that allowed such an organisation to emerge, the legal basis for the permissions granted and the roles of the officials involved.
Green Army’s registration has been cancelled. The question of responsibility for the state machinery that allowed it to assume a military-style identity, however, remains very much alive.
