Kathmandu, February 6

The Cabinet’s Statutory Committee today endorsed the draft of the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission Regulations. The regulations would be formalised after giving the final touch to some technical aspects by Sunday, according to Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Agni Kharel.

Minister Kharel told The Himalayan Times that the Statutory Committee discussed the draft law on Friday and decided to endorse it. A sub-panel— consisting secretaries of Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, TRC and the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers would give the final touch to the TRC Regulations by Sunday, he added.

“The draft regulations is as good as endorsed,” Kharel said. “We require no major change in the proposed draft.”

The draft regulations of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, however, has yet to be endorsed by the Cabinet as it is still under consideration in the Statutory Committee.

Kharel said it would also be passed soon.

Earlier, lawmakers from Unified CPN-Maoist — one of the major coalition partners— had obstructed passage of the regulations, claiming that some of the provisions of the proposed laws was contrary to the spirit of the TRC and CIEDP Act.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disapparances had forwarded their respective regulations through the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction for the Cabinet’s approval in August.

In absence of these regulations, both the transitional justice mechanisms have been unable to carry out their works.