Kathmandu, August 8

Most lawmakers today bunked the House of Representatives meeting which made Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara postpone the meeting for 15 minutes.

The house meeting was supposed to pass the Bill on Safeguard, Anti-Dumping and Countervailing. The bill was proposed by Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav for endorsement.

After Speaker Mahara started the meeting, Nepali Congress lawmaker Dev Prakash Timilsina asked the speaker to check the attendance of lawmakers to see whether or nor one-fourth of the total number of members were present.

Speaker Mahara then asked his assistant to ring the bell for three minutes which allowed lawmakers to enter the House. After three minutes, there were only 41 lawmakers present.

According to Article 94 of the constitution, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, no question or resolution shall be presented for decision in a meeting of either House of the Federal Parliament unless one-fourth of the total number of its members are present. There are 175 lawmakers in the HoR.

So, Speaker Mahara postponed the meeting for 15 minutes. Later, those lawmakers who had bunked, presented themselves and the bill was passed.