House forms 15-member PHSC after Regulations endorsement

KATHMANDU: The Parliament on Sunday formed a 15-member Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) as soon as it endorsed the long-disputed Parliamentary Regulations this afternoon.

Speaker Onsari Gharti read out the name list of members of the newly formed panel during the House meeting today.

They are Anita Kumari Pariyar, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Ananda Prasad Dhungana, Kul Bahadur Gurung, Ganesh Man Gurung, Chinkaji Shrestha, Chitra Lekha Yadav, Dharmanath Prasad Saha, Prakash Sharan Mahat, Bal Krishna Khand, Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, Yogendra Chaudhary, Hitraj Pandey and Sayendra Bantawa.

The 15th member would be nominated later.

The PHSC is authorised to elect its Chairperson on its own.

Meanwhile, the Committee would hold its maiden meeting on Monday itself, according to the Rastriya Samachar Samiti.

After formation of the panel, it is expected that parliamentary hearings on nominations of Supreme Court Chief Justice, 11 SC Justices and ambassadors for 22 diplomatic missions would take place soon.

Although the Judicial Council nominated 11 justices for the Supreme Court three months ago, they have not been able to join work as their parliamentary hearing is yet to take place.

Parliamentary hearing for Acting Chief Justice Sushila Karki, who was nominated as chief justice, and 22 ambassadorial nominees have also not been conducted due to the same reason.

Laws authoritise the PHSC to reject any recommendation with a two-thirds majority.

The Legislature-Parliament shall meet next at 11:00 am on Monday.