POKHARA, NOVEMBER 6

Former chief justice Kalyan Shrestha has expressed concern about apathy shown by the people and stakeholders towards implementing the constitution.

Speaking at a virtual interaction on ‘Stakeholders’ Role in Implementation of Federalism’ organised by the Human Rights Journalists’ Association today, the former CJ asked mediapersons to hold discussions about the constitution and play the role of a watchdog to ensure its effective implementation.

“It’s the duty of the media to inform the public about their rights and responsibilities. Promulgating the statute is not enough, its implementation is a must,” Shrestha said.

The former chief justice also said that only the powerful and influential had benefited from the federal system. “Our Constitution has many articles about fundamental rights of the people, but it’s very sad that the people can’t utilise the rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said.

“Federalism is about supremacy of law and end to lawlessness,” he added. Shrestha argued that most of the problems facing the people and the nation would be resolved if resources were to be distributed equally.

“The nation has seen almost all systems but as the past character and mindset of the politicians haven’t changed, the people haven’t been able to feel the change in the country,” he said, observing that the people are being hopeless due to rampant corruption. He also criticised the government for not initiating the Parliament sessions at a time when the country is facing a pandemic. Many other speakers who spoke on the occasion expressed their dissatisfaction with the poor implementation of federalism.