KATHMANDU: A meeting of the Upper House of the Federal Parliament held Thursday has unanimously passed the Media Council Bill, 2076. The much controversial proposal for provision of qualification-test for journalists to obtain licence, however, has been scrapped.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gokul Prasad Baskota, had presented the proposal afore the National Assembly to pass the bill which was endorsed on removing the provision, as agreed to in the Legislation Management Committee.

Discussions were held on the Bill along with the report of the Legislation Management Committee before its endorsement.

Ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmakers had recently proposed an amendment to the bill provisioning a licence that the journalists could acquire only on passing a qualification-exam.

The proposal had faced opposition from various quarters which eventually led to its exclusion from the MCB.