Kathmandu, April 7

The Parliamentary Regulations Drafting Committee of the Parliament today failed to finalise Parliamentary Regulations through voting, as the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party sought postponement of voting for at least two days.

Earlier, the PRDC had announced that it would settle disputed issues through voting today.

NC Chief Whip Chin Kaji Shrestha said his party sought deferral of the voting because some of the NC lawmakers of the PRDC were contesting election for Executive Committee of NCPP scheduled for tomorrow.

He said he and Radheshyam Adhikari, who chairs the PRDC, were the only members from the party present in today’s meeting of the panel and other NC lawmakers were busy in their election campaign.

PRDC member Ram Narayan Bidari, who represents the Unified CPN-Maoist in the panel, however, slammed the NC ‘for delaying the enactment of the Parliamentary Regulations.’

Bidari said although he was in favour of enacting the Parliamentary Regulations without any delay, he also suggested that the PRDC chair should postpone the voting as sought by the NC, as it would be inappropriate to settle issues through voting in the absence of NC lawmakers.

He said winter session of the Parliament could not be called due to lack of Parliamentary Regulations yet the NC was trying to delay the enactment of Parliamentary Regulations mainly because the party wanted to change the government and create obstruction in the constitutional bodies and implementation of the new constitution.

Bidari accused PRDC Chair Radheshyam Adhikari, an NC lawmaker of indirectly supporting the party’s tactics of delaying the enactment of Parliamentary Regulations on various pretexts.

Adhikari could not be contacted for comments.

Bidari said a subcommittee formed by the PRDC mandating it to prepare a draft of the Parliamentary Regulations within a month completed its task in time.

“We were supposed to enact the Parliamentary Regulations much earlier, but the NC kept delaying the process,” Bidari added.

He said the PRDC could convene its next meeting only around April 19 when four members of the PRDC, including Adhikari, would return from Japan tour.

The ruling parties and the NC mainly differ on the strength of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee, with the NC favouring a 73-member PHC and the ruling parties favouring a 15-member panel.

Parliamentary hearing of 11 newly nominated Supreme Court justices can take place only when Parliamentary Regulations are enacted and PHC formed.

NC Chief Whip Chin Kaji Shrestha, however, said the constitution’s provision to have 15-member PHC was not applicable in this transitional phase.

“The constitution states that the number of ministers should not exceed 25 but Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli added more ministers citing the transitional provision.

The same transitional provision should apply to PHC and there should be a 73-member PHC,” Shrestha said.

He said the fringe parties wanted their representation in the PHC and the NC had backed their stance to check government’s monopoly in the constitutional appointments.

“We need to take into account the spirit of inclusion and hence we need to ensure representation of all the parties as per their strength in the Parliament.

If there is small PHC, then the government can easily influence the members,” Shrestha added.

He also said it would be better for the parties to take a few days more to forge consensus on disputed issues.