They have also worked out issue of sharing parliamentary panels' leadership
KATHMANDU, APRIL 24
The big three political parties - Nepali Congress, CPN- UML and CPN-MC have reached understanding on the Truth and Reconciliation Bill and the leadership of Parliamentary committees.
UML Whip Mahesh Kumar Bartaula said his party would get leadership of three parliamentary committees, including the Public Accounts Committee. There are 10 thematic committees in the House of Representatives, including two joint committees in which members of the National Assembly, the Upper House of the Parliament are also represented.
NC will lead the Parliamentary Hearing Committee comprising members of both Houses. Committee on Directive Principles and Implementation of Policy and Responsibility, Monitoring and Evaluation will be led by the CPN-UML. One of the committees that the UML will lead is yet to be finalised.
The three parties also agreed to pass the Constitutional Council Bill through the Parliament without sending the bill to the relevant House committee. Bartaula said that the three parties also agreed to send the TRC bill to a Special Committee for debate.
NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak, CPN-MC Chair and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN- MC Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey, CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, UML Chief Whip Padam Giri and Whip Mahesh Bartula were present in the meeting. Bartaula said the three parties reached consensus on all major issues.
CPN-MC Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey said the three parties agreed to form a 15-member special committee to discuss the TRC bill. He said the current session of the Parliament will be prorogued after formation of the House committees.
Agreement on these issues will pave the way for appointment of chief justice and office bearers of other constitutional bodies. The process of appointing the new chief justice had been stalled for the last 14 months due to lack of consensus among major parties.
The Constitutional Council will nominate the CJ and the Parliamentary Hearing Committee will confirm or reject the CJ nominees. Normally, a candidate nominated by the CC gets confirmed by the PHC, but sometimes there is the chance that the House panel may reject a nominee. Former senior-most Justice of the SC Deepak Raj Joshi was nominated by the CC, but was rejected by the PHC and as a result, Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana became the CJ before he could get his expected turn to lead the Judiciary.
By agreeing to form a Special Committee to discuss the TRC bill, the ruling parties have shown flexibility to satisfy the UML which had been demanding that the bill be sent to a House panel. UML lawmakers have opposed the TRC bill saying it does not do justice to conflict victims and if the bill is passed in its current form, the international community may object to it.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
