Kathmandu, May 25

The Parliament Secretariat has not yet made available copies of two crucial reports even six days after the government presented them in the Parliament.

The government had tabled in the House of Representatives the Good Governance Report for fiscal 2018-19 and Directive Relating to Implementation of Principles, Policies and Obligations of the State for FY 2018-19 last Monday.

As per the rule, the secretariat should immediately make available to lawmakers copies of reports or bills presented by the government.

They are then discussed in the Parliament and the government improves on the bills or reports accommodating inputs from lawmakers.

As lawmakers pressure the Parliament Secretariat to make available copies of the two reports that include details of the government’s performance in the past year and status of implementation of constitutional rights, the secretariat has passed the buck to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers saying the OPMCM did not make available enough copies of the two reports to distribute to lawmakers.

Generally, the ministry presenting reports or bills in the Parliament needs to provide the secretariat copies to be distributed to lawmakers. As Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal had presented the reports on May 20, it was the OPMCM’s responsibility to make available copies of the reports to the secretariat.

However, there are also lapses on the part of the Parliament Secretariat because as per parliamentary practice, the secretariat does not allow presentation of any bill or report unless the government or ministries concerned make available enough copies to be distributed to lawmakers.

PS Spokesperson Roj Nath Pandey conceded the mistake and said they would be watchful henceforth.

“We thought the OPMCM had already provided us copies of the two reports, but after their presentation we came to know it had made available only one copy each,” he told THT. “We shouldn’t have included presentation of the reports in the House business schedule without getting copies for lawmakers.”

Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, chair of the Parliamentary Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee, also said the PS should not have allowed presentation of the reports without receiving enough copies.

As per Article 53 of the constitution, the government shall submit an annual report containing the steps taken and achievements made in implementing the directive principles, policies and obligations of the state set forth in this part to the president, and the president shall cause such report to be laid through the prime minister before the federal Parliament.

Not only lawmakers, but the Parliamentary committees concerned have also not received the reports. In a meeting of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Directive of Principles, Policies and Obligations of the State Committee yesterday, its Chairperson Nira Devi Jairu said that they were yet to receive the reports for discussion.

“We need to discuss the reports, but we haven’t received them yet.”

PS sources said although they had written twice to the OPMCM in the past five days, the latter had not made copies of the reports available.

OPMCM Spokesperson Binod Bahadur Kunwar said they would make available copies of the reports immediately after they came from the printing press.