KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 6

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal today held discussion with chief whips of political parties and their representatives and told them that the government would give priority to introduce bills related to peace process, good governance, and livelihood.

According to CPN-Maoist Centre Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey, the PM said he would give priority to introducing bills that he had referred to in his speech in the Parliament after becoming the PM. He said he would soon bring the citizenship bill.

The PM also sought chief whips' and parties' representatives' views on how the government could aid the Parliament in running its business effectively.

The PM also sought to know about the progress being made in the drafting of parliamentary regulations.

According to Pandey, the PM told chief whips that the government wanted to know how it could managecollaborative relations between the government and the Parliament.

Assistant Spokesperson for Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dhamala said the government could reintroduce 27 bills that became ineffective with the end of the House of Representatives' five-year tenure before November 20 elections. Among the 27 bills that became ineffective were Media Council Bill, Information Technology Bill, National Human Rights Act (Amendment) Bill, and bills related to transitional justice mechanism.

The government could also move ahead the six bills under consideration of the National Assembly. Relevant thematic committees have presented their reports on these bills.

Dhamala said the government would reintroduce bills that expired with the end of the HoR tenure in their original forms or amended version or with inputs by lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the panel formed to draft new parliamentary regulations held discussion here today. CPN- UML leader Subas Chandra Nembang told the panel that the constitution granted the government the power to issue ordinance but only in exceptional circumstances when the Parliament was not in session and the government had something urgent that came up. He said power was misused in the past.

'Let's not talk about which government did what, but we saw that the government abruptly ended the House session and brought a new ordinance at midnight to amend the Political Party Act lowering the threshold for splitting a party,' he said.

Nembang told the panel that constitutional provisions related to ordinance could be used in true spirit of the constitution only if leaders would reform their behaviour.

He said panel members wanted to complete the draft of HoR Regulations in 15 days. Members of the panel are yet to forge consensus on the provisions that could govern the process of ordinance and impeachment motion.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 7, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.