Pokhara, September 1

The two-day conclave of chief attorneys of seven provinces organised with support from United Nations Development Programme concluded here today, issuing an 11-point Pokhara Declaration.

Speaking at the conclave, the CMs urged the central government to formulate at the earliest necessary laws to facilitate the work of provincial governments.

“The provincial government has failed to work effectively for want of a number of laws, hence it’s high time the federal government formulated required laws and transferred the jurisdiction over peace and security related affairs to the provincial governments,” they observed.

“Though we are under the Office of the Attorney General, we, the chief attorneys at provincial level, can’t argue on behalf of the government, which is unfair. Just like the Attorney General, we at the province-level must be allowed to argue on behalf of the government in the court,” they added.

“As the successful operation of the provincial governments are the heart of federalism, the central government should create conducive environment for the provincial government by formulating necessary laws and providing required number of employees,” they observed.

Chief attorneys of all seven provinces — Chudamani Acharya of Province 1, Dipendra Jha of Province 2, Suryachandra Neupane of Province 3, Rajendra Ghimire of Gandaki Province, Thakur DC of Province 5, Bidhyabhushan Manandhar of Karnali Province and Kulananda Upadhyaya of Province 7— participated in the conclave that began yesterday.

Gandaki Province Chief Minister Prithvisubba Gurung, former chief justice Kalyan Shrestha, High Court Pokhara chief judge Kumar Chudal and others spoke on the first day of the conclave yesterday.

Constitution expert  Bipin Adhikari and former CJ Shrestha gave their presentation today.