Kathmandu, August 19

Speaker of the House of Representatives Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Chairperson of the National Assembly Ganesh Timilsina have stressed the need to maintain coordination among the Federal Parliament and provincial assemblies while formulating laws.

They said the Federal Parliament and provincial assembly should stay in constant touch with each other and share their experiences on procedures of house business.

Speaking at an interaction ‘Federal Procedure and Experience’ organised here today, Mahara said, “The constitution has conferred on the centre and provinces separate powers and hence they are supposed to maintain coordination with each other on every bit of lawmaking process.” The interaction had brought together members of the HoR, NA and provincial assemblies.

He said laws related to concurrent powers of federation and provinces could not be possible without their collaboration and coordination. “Previously, there was unitary system of government. Federalism is a new experience and structure of province is also completely new. Therefore, sharing experience between the centre and province is quite necessary,” Mahara suggested.

NA Chair Timilsina said the three levels of government — federal, provincial and local — should work hand-in-hand on lawmaking, planning and development activities to carry out the objectives envisioned by the constitution. “Since the federation needs to formulate some laws for the provincial and local levels, we want the representatives from all three levels to hold necessary discussion on it,” he said.

“We have gathered under the same roof for the first time after formation of the three levels of government. It will assist us in sharing our experiences and developing a basis to face challenges in the lawmaking process,” Timilsina added.

Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Bhanubhakta Dhakal called on the HoR and NA to ease and simplify procedural complexity for prompt decision on new news.