Law Minister Dhakal says 22 new laws need to be enacted soon

Kathmandu, December 1

Minister of Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal said that his ministry was trying its best to prepare all the urgent bills as soon as possible.

He told THT that his ministry had told the ministries to prepare draft bills, which needed to be tabled in the Parliament to make laws compatible with the provisions of the new constitution before December 15.

Minister Dhakal said the Parliament needed to amend 339 old laws in order to make those laws compatible with the provisions of the constitution.

According to Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, 122 new laws need to be enacted. Minister Dhakal said his  ministry had held a secretary-level meeting with all 22 ministries, including the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, to discuss issues related to drafts of new bills.

“All the ministries have pledged that they will send their drafts within 15 days,” he said.

He said the government would register all the bills in the Parliament. The government needs to meet the deadline of March 5, 2019 to amend laws that contradict the constitution.

Recently, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers had also directed all the ministries to prepare and send drafts of urgent bills as soon as possible.

Recently, Nepali Congress Vice-president Bimalendra Nidhi had criticised the government for not preparing drafts of urgent bills. He said provinces had not been able to function properly due to lack of umbrella laws that the federal government needed to enact.

Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara also recently urged the government to prepare the draft of urgent bills. Mahara rued that the government had not registered urgent bills in the  Parliament at a time when there was need for calling the new session of the Parliament.

According to Parliament Secretariat sources, the government is planning to summon the winter session of the Parliament in mid-January. “The government has not made enough preparation for the winter session of the Parliament,” a source said.