Kathmandu, December 9 The government is yet to determine the protocol of chief ministers, provincial ministers, members of provincial assemblies and provincial governors. Joint Secretary at the home ministry Harisharan Pudasaini said the ministry had been discussing the protocol issue and would categorise the protocol of provincial representatives and chiefs of provinces within a week. “We were to issue the list of protocol of provincial VIPs and chiefs of provinces earlier but we could not do so due to lack of time. We’ll analyse the constitutional provisions and issue the new protocol list within a week,” he added. Senior Advocate Chandra Kanata Gyawali said it would be appropriate to place the protocol of chiefs of states above the chief minister as chiefs of states would work as constitutional heads of the provinces. He added that the protocol of chief ministers and provincial assembly members should be fixed below federal cabinet ministers, as they would represent bodies below the federal Parliament in the ranking. He said the protocol of elected representatives of the local levels should be above government secretaries but their ranking in the protocol list was below the level of joint-secretaries. Senior Advocate Gyawali said the elected members should be addressed as ‘honourable members’ and they should be placed above government secretaries, as they were elected representatives. As per the rules issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on June 7, the president is on the top of the protocol list, followed by the vice-president, prime minister, chief justice and the speaker. Former presidents and former deputy prime ministers rank sixth in the protocol list. The elected chiefs of sub-metropolis and municipalities rank 19th in the protocol list, along with joint secretaries of the government, DGs, deputy directors general, district judges, gazetted first class employees of the government, elected chiefs of sub-metropolis and municipalities. Federal ministers, leader of the main opposition party, former vice-presidents, former prime ministers, former chief justices and deputy speakers rank seventh; ministers of state, chairpersons of parliamentary committees rank eighth; justices of the Supreme Court and members of the Judicial Council rank 10th; assistant federal ministers rank 11th; members of Parliament rank 12th; and chiefs of constitutional bodies rank 13th in the protocol list.