Opposition parties should also cooperate with the government when it comes to fulfilling their constitutional duties
Despite the calls to boycott the Constitutional Council (CC) meeting by the main opposition leader in the House of Representatives (HoR) and others, Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana attended it after it was called by CC chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday. As per the CC Act, four CC members, including its chair, should be present to meet the CC's quorum. It means that the six-member CC cannot hold its meeting if the HoR Speaker, National Assembly chairman, opposition leader and Deputy-Speaker of the HoR do not attend the meeting called by the PM. As the Deputy-Speaker's position has been vacant for a long time, the CC currently has five members. Speaker Agni Sapkota and main opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba have been skipping the CC meeting conspicuously, making it very difficult to make appointments in the constitutional bodies, the posts of some of which have remained vacant since long. After the PM or CC chair did not get cooperation from the main opposition and the Speaker, who was elected to the post from the CPN-Maoist Centre, the President issued an ordinance on the CC Act as per the PM's recommendation last Tuesday, with a provision that even majority members of the CC can recommend for the appointments in the constitutional bodies.
The ordinance has allowed the CC chair to take decisions on these issues as the National Assembly chairman and the Chief Justice attended the meeting called by the CC chair, just one day before the PM is scheduled to test his majority through a vote of confidence in the HoR, which was reinstated by the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on February 23. Issuing a press statement on Saturday, main opposition leader Deuba said he would not attend the CC meeting called by the PM, as the ordinance had "mala fide intention of appointing political favourites in the constitutional bodies". The PM had introduced the same ordinance in November last year also, but its legitimacy expired after the opposition parties in the parliament did not allow it to be tabled there after the HoR was revived.
The CC meeting has made recommendations to the vacant positions of some constitutional bodies, including the Public Service Commission, with some names from Deuba's choice. However, the recommendations will face a daunting challenge from the parliamentary hearing committee, where the UML will be in the minority if the PM loses the vote of confidence today. In principle, it is a wrong practice to introduce an ordinance time and again to serve one's purpose. But the opposition parties should also cooperate with the government when it comes to fulfilling their constitutional duties. Even if another government is formed, the CC will face the same problem that PM Oli has been facing. So, it is prudent that all the parties, especially the main opposition leader and the Speaker, rise above their partisan interests and allow the CC to take timely decisions on the appointments to these bodies, otherwise they will cease to function as per the constitutional requirements.
The PM would not have had to issue the ordinance on the CC Act had the opposition leader and the Speaker cooperated with the PM.
Laudable drive
With the outbreak of the second wave of the coronavirus raging across the country, each day sees the addition of at least 10 thousand new infections.
There is an acute shortage of almost everything from oxygen cylinders and hospital beds to ventilators and health personnel. It's at times like this that every citizen has the moral obligation to help those in need and quickly in whatever they can as it is futile to expect the government to do everything. Given the gravity of the situation, the initiative taken by some individuals, both inside Nepal and outside, to provide help and information to COVID-19 patients through the social media is most praiseworthy.
Through posts, tweets, stories and hashtags, media platforms run by youths are helping patients find medicines, oxygen, beds and other services, such as ambulances. But information apart, there is also a need to help many critical patients financially.
Thus, these media platforms could also be used to raise money inside and outside Nepal for the needy patients. And with the virus making inroads in the rural areas too, it is equally important that the rural poor are not deprived of the services being offered by the youths.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 10, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
