Teams to be deployed to lead through initial days of provincial assemblies

Kathmandu, January 21

Along with the swearing in of Provincial Assembly members, the federal parliament secretariat is set to deploy its team in all seven provinces to lead the initial days of the Provincial Assembly. The secretariat is in a rush, as the government has directed it to establish the initial set-up in the provincial assembly within three weeks from today.

A meeting between government secretaries relating to the federal Parliament and provincial Assembly held at the secretariat today decided to use the expertise of Federal Parliament to establish initial regulations, administrative procedure and parliamentary process.

Chief Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi, Parliament General Secretary Manohar  Bhattarai and joint secretaries of  the parliament had participated in the meeting. The secretaries from ministries of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, General Administration, Urban Development and Ministry for local Development and Federal Affairs also participated in the meeting. According to a source, the meeting was held after the newly appointed chief secretaries of the provinces sought Parliament’s expertise to run the Provincial Assembly.

According to Parliament’s Spokesperson Bharat Raj Gautam, the meeting decided to deploy three-member team led by senior joint-secretary of the Parliament in all seven provinces. “Our team will be involved in formulating work procedures, regulation of the Provincial Assembly and establishing essential structures,” Gautam said.

According to Parliament’s General Secretary Manohar  Bhattarai the secretariat will guide the staffers of Provincial Assembly ensuring uniformity in procedures and practices in all of the seven Provincial Assemblies. “Based on our practice and the country’s parliamentary tradition,  the team will guide the Provincial Assembly from  the very first session”, he added. He also said that the Federal Parliamentary team will be there for 15 to 30 days. “We will also make sure that the business of the provincial assemblies run in accordance with parliamentary norms and order,” he added.

Some Parliament officers, however, said that the initial set-up of the Provincial Assembly in a short time will be challenging. An officer of the parliament told THT on condition of anonymity, that the government had come in late for initial set-up of the Provincial Assembly. “Orientations and other necessary approaches should have been made earlier, as the government already knew that it would have a short time to set up after the oath taking of Provincial Assembly members.”