The centralised mindset of the federal government was the main obstacle in the implementation of federalism
KATHMANDU, JUNE 2
The National Assembly today unanimously passed a stricture telling the government to fully implement federalism.
NA member Khim Lal Devkota, also a federalism expert, registered the stricture with the support of other lawmakers Jitendra Narayan Dev, Gopi Bahadur Sarki Achhami, Nanda Chapai, Pramila Kumari, and Devendra Dahal.
The move comes in the backdrop of provincial and local governments' grudge against the federal government for not enacting umbrella laws and frequently interfering in their jurisdiction.
Devkota, who had registered the same 15-point stricture in the last session of Parliament, registered it again in the current session of Parliament as the validity of the previous stricture ended with the prorogation of the last session of Parliament.
Speaking from the rostrum of the House, Devkota said all three tiers of the government needed to confine their roles to their constitutional boundary.
He said the Local Self-Governance Act-1999 had made provisions to give local governments jurisdiction over primary education, local services, and local infrastructure, but those provisions were not implemented. Had the provisions of the Local Self-Governance Act been implemented back then, perhaps no political movement, Madhes movement or people's war, would have happened, he said.
"We have been elected by the provincial and local representatives and if we do not raise their concerns, who else will?" Devkota wondered.
Devkota said that post federal set up, some positive changes had taken place and peace had been restored in the country, yet there were problems in the implementation of federalism.
NA member Bimala Rai Paudyal said the centralised mindset of the federal government was the main obstacle in the implementation of federalism.
Movers of the stricture have stated that although the constitution provisioned for cooperation, coordination, and coexistence among the three tiers of government, in practice the spirit of the constitution had not been implemented.
"Provincial and local governments have not been able to achieve expected results due to lack of human resources."
Movers of the motion stated that although many powers had been devolved to the provincial and local governments, an attempt was being made to establish new structure on various pretexts.
They said if robust inter-governmental relations, strong financial federalism, effective administrative federalism, dynamism in lawmaking process, and improvement in service delivery were ensured, there wouldn't be any problem in the implementation of federalism.
Movers of the motion urged the House to direct the government to activate inter-governmental coordination mechanisms, make laws to avoid duplication of works among the three tiers of the government, to ensure correlation between policies of different tiers of the government, and to implement the 29-point resolution passed by Inter-State Coordination Council four years ago.
The stricture also aims to ensure that other tiers of government do not build institutional structures parallel to those that are local governments' jurisdiction. The stricture urges the government to stop allocating small projects and programmes in the name of conditional grants.
Lawmakers stated in the motion that the constitutional provision requiring fiscal transfer that the provinces and local levels got should be based on the recommendation of National Natural Resources and Finance Commission.
Institutional mechanisms that are to be transferred to provincial governments, including provincial police, must be set up soon. They have also demanded uniformity in the pay and perks rule in local governments and to have clear rule about the number of ministers and ministries in provinces.
Movers of the motion also demanded that the federal government enact umbrella laws in consultation with provincial and local governments.
They also urged the government to make necessary provisions to ensure coordination between all tiers of government and to implement the report submitted by Public Expenditure Review Commission in 2018.
Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration Rajendra Shrestha said some mechanisms had to be established under the federal system, such as special, protected, and autonomous regions. He said the Inter-State Coordination Council had not met in the past four years and the government would try to ensure that such delays do not recur.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 03, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
