Parliamentary panels suffer quorum hitch

Kathmandu, December 4

A meeting of the Finance Committee, which was called for a clause-wise discussion on Pension Fund Bill today, started after a delay of one-and-a-half hours due to lack of quorum. The meeting was put off twice for want of quorum and began for the third time after one-third members showed up.

According to parliamentary regulations, the first and second meetings should be attended by 51 per cent members, while presence of one-third members is enough for the meeting to begin for the third time. The 27-member committee includes former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai and four former lawmakers.

Minister of Finance Yuba Raj Khatiwada, along with his team, had showed up at the committee at 11:00am when the meeting was scheduled to begin. However, only 10 lawmakers were present till noon.

“So we postponed the meeting for 10 minutes,” the committee’s secretary Surendra Aryal told THT.

The committee meeting started for the second time, but it again lacked quorum. One-third members were present only when the meeting began for the third time.

Members present during the third meeting of the committee were Bhattarai, Ghana Shyam Bhusal, Chudamani Khadka, Met Mani Chaudhary, Ram Kumari Jhakri, Shyam Kumar Shrestha, Satya Pahadi, Hari Raj Adhikari and Gynendra Bahadur Karki and the panel’s Chair Krishna Prasad Dahal. Lawmaker Tulsi Thapa was the last to show up for the meeting.

. Not only the Finance Committee, lawmakers in other committees also hardly show up for scheduled meetings. The Development and Technology committee had also postponed its meeting a few days ago due to lack of quorum.

Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee has not held any meeting after Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals.  Chairperson of the committee Bhakta Pokharel said lawmakers, who had left for their home districts for Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals, had not returned yet. He said lawmakers had not returned to the capital because the new session of the Parliament was yet to begin.

In its last meeting two weeks ago, International Committee of the Parliament formed a three-member sub-committee to investigate into the procurement of wide-body aircraft by Nepal Airlines Corporation. Coordinator of the sub-committee Prakash Man Singh, however, is busy in his party activities. So, the committee is planning to add more members and replace the coordinator.

The Public Accounts Committee and International Committee of the House of Representatives are scheduled to hold discussions on the procurement of two wide-body aircraft by Nepal Airlines Corporation with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Wednesday.