Kathmandu June 17

The Joint Parliamentary Meeting Regulation was presented in the joint meeting of the House of Representatives and National Assembly today.

The regulation, once endorsed, the will pave the way for the formation of two powerful parliamentary committees, which will oversee implementation of constitutional provisions and appointment of chief justice, ambassadors and heads of constitutional bodies.

The draft was formulated as per Article 104 (1)of the constitution which states that each House of the Federal Parliament shall, subject to the provision of this constitution frame rules for conducting its business, maintaining order during its meetings and regulating the constitution, functions and procedures of the committees or any other matter of the Federal Parliament or committees. The Federal Parliament shall determine its own conduct of business until such rules are framed.

The draft regulation was presented in the joint meeting by the drafting committee Coordinator Krishna Bhakta Pokharel. As per the draft, the Public Hearing Committee will have 15 members — 12 from the House of Representatives and three from the National Assembly.

The Constitution Implementation and Monitoring Committee will have the same strength and the same number of members from HoR and NA.  The Constitution Implementation and Monitoring Committee will look into the implementation of constitutional provisions and issue directives if rights guaranteed by the constitution are not upheld, said Pokharel.

The Public Hearing Committee will conduct hearings for the appointment of the chief justice, ambassadors, and heads of constitutional bodies, such as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority and National Natural Resource and Fiscal Commission.

As per the regulation, only two-thirds majority of the Parliament can endorse the call for the referendum.

Earlier, the House of Representatives had approved the HoR Regulation, and the National Assembly had endorsed the NA Regulation.

Endorsement of the HoR Regulation has paved the way for the formation of 10 thematic committees.