Kathmandu, June 26

The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs today said the Parliament would endorse all the 110 new laws to be enacted to ensure constitution implementation by September.

Of the 110 laws, 73 have already been drafted and some of them have also been endorsed.

Moreover, there are over 375 old laws, most of which need amendment to make them compatible with the

new constitution.

“There are 110 laws that need to be enacted to ensure constitution implementation. Of them, 37 are yet to be drafted,” said Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang at a press conference. “Some of the issues will also be addressed by the Civil and Criminal Code that comes into force on August 17.”

The rights to be included in five of the 37 laws yet to be drafted will be covered by the Civil and Criminal Code, according to the minister.

The ministry is planning to forward 25 of the 73 laws that have already been drafted to the Cabinet for approval after which they will be registered in the Parliament for endorsement, said the minister.

“We have already issued theoretical approval to draft the laws to ministries, and the law ministry is continuously following up the issue with other ministries,” he said.

The law ministry has directed other ministries concerned to draft related laws by mid-July.

According to Tamang, the law ministry will not offer any extension to the mid-July deadline. “If the ministries fail to complete the job within the given time frame, the law ministry may intervene or deploy additional human resources to expedite the drafting process,” he said.

As per the constitutional provision, all the laws should be endorsed by midnight of September 18. As far as old laws that contradict the new constitution are concerned, they should be amended and endorsed within a year of the formation of the Federal Parliament, or else the laws will be rendered redundant.

The ministry has already commissioned a study to ascertain which laws need amendment.

“We need to do research to draft laws related to the rights of Dalits and women, right to employment and the right to shelter. Even if the study takes more time, we’ll make sure that the fundamental rights are ensured and relevant details will be added through amendment at later stages,” said the minister. “However, we will not miss the deadline,” he added.

Regarding laws to be enacted at the local and provincial levels, Tamang said the government had already forwarded sample laws and the local bodies had started the process of enforcing them.

The ministry is also planning to submit the transitional justice bill in the Parliament.