CDC task force fails to complete its work

KATHMANDU: The meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly slated for tomorrow morning has been postponed until 1pm on June 24 after its task force could not finalise its report by settling disputed issues and incorporating the agreed upon issues today, the deadline given by the CDC.

The task force, headed by CDC Chairman Krishna Prasad Sitaula, is also yet to settle the disputed issues that were not included in the 16-point deal reached among four political parties on June 8. The task force was supposed to complete its task by today and table its report at the CDC meeting tomorrow morning.

“As we could not complete the task of presenting the agreed issues, CDC’s tomorrow’s meeting has been postponed till 1pm on June 24. We have so far completed 50 per cent of work,” said Ram Narayan Bidari, a member of the task force.

The task force worked on the issues throughout the day today and decided to call for putting off tomorrow’s CDC meeting, as it needed more time to accomplish the task, according to Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, another member of the task force.

“We will complete the task before the next meeting. If we fail to settle any disputed issues, they will be forwarded to top leadership level for settlement,” he said. The CDC is mandated to prepare the first draft of the constitution and submit its report to CA Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang by June 29. After five sub-committees of the CDC failed to settle the disputed issues, the CDC, on June 18, had forwarded the issues to the task force.

Some key disputed issues include whether office bearers of constitutional bodies, including justices of the Supreme Court, should be reappointed after the promulgation of the constitution till new appointments are made as per the new statute and whether to retain the existing districts as service centres among others. ; whether to mention the provision related to autonomous, protected and special regions under special structure to protect underprivileged/backward/minority groups or let the concerned state assembly bring separate laws regarding this; and whether to include pluralism in the preamble or under the section of executive.