Differences delay House committees’ formation

Kathmandu, June 28

A bill related to the Administrative Court has been stuck in the Federal Parliament due to non-formation of various parliamentary committees as a result of the differences between the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and opposition Nepali Congress over representation and leadership of the to-be-formed panels.

While the NCP and the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal have already submitted the names of its lawmakers to be included in the panels, the NC has not yet done so.

The NC has been demanding that the panels be formed on the basis of political consensus, but the NCP (NCP) is of the view that representation and leadership should be finalised on the basis of parties’ strength in the Parliament.

Non-formation of the panels has also delayed appointment of chief justice.

As per the regular business schedule of the National Assembly for today, the bill related to the Administrative Court should have been sent to the respective house committee for clause-wise discussion, but the secretariat was forced to remove the agenda from the schedule due to absence of the panels.

“The bill should have been sent to the respective panels for discussion, but it could not happen due to the NC’s reluctance to submit the names of its lawmakers,” Dinanath Sharma, parliamentary party leader of the NCP in the NA, told The Himalayan Times.

Sharma said the NC rejected the NCP (NCP)’s proposal to form panels and allow the senior-most lawmaker to lead them for the time being and settle the leadership issue through consensus later.

NC leaders have sought to discuss the issue with NCP (NCP) co-chairs KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, but this has not been possible as Dahal is yet to return from Singapore.

Since the NC has only 13 members in the 59-member NA, it will have three to four members in each thematic committee. However, its chances of getting leadership of any of the four committees of the NA are slim if the issue is settled on the basis of majority.

The opposition party has been demanding that the NCP (NCP) make it clear how many panels it would get.

NC lawmaker Minendra Rijal said the issues of representation and leadership should be finalised through political dialogue.

The NCP (NCP) will wait until Sunday and if the NC does not forward the names by then, the party will follow ‘due process’, according to Sharma.