Kathmandu, April 4

The Parliamentary Regulations Drafting Committee today decided to put disputed issues to vote on April 7 if the members of the committee failed to forge consensus on those issues.

Members of the committee are still divided mainly on issues related to the Parliamentary Hearing Committee.

Chair of the committee Radheshyam Adhikari told THT that the members of the committee were yet to forge consensus on how many members should be there in the PHC and whether the issues should be endorsed by simple majority of the PHC or two-thirds majority.

Adhikari said the committee would still try to settle disputed issues through consensus but if that was not possible, then the issues would be settled through the voting process.

A member of the Parliamentary Regulations Drafting Committee Ram Narayan Bidari said parties represented in the panel were divided on whether there should be 15 members in the PHC or 75.

Ruling parties want to have 15 members in the committee, whereas the Nepali Congress wants to have 73 to 75 members.

Bidari said although the parliamentary panel decided to settle issues through voting process on April 7, he was not sure voting would take place that day.

“Today the NC members of the 61-member Parliamentary Regulations Drafting Committee did not take part in the meeting saying they were busy with the party work,” he said and added that if the NC members did not come to take part in the voting on April 7 citing similar reasons, that could pose challenge to the panel because settling such an issue without the participation of the members of the principal opposition may be morally wrong.

Once the Parliamentary Regulations Drafting Committee enacts the regulations, the Parliament will have to endorse them.

Enactment of parliamentary regulations is necessary to confirm or reject appointments in the constitutional bodies, including the newly nominated Supreme Court justices.