The reversal of govt decisions by the SC time and again does not augur well for the image of the PM
The Supreme Court's interim order on Tuesday to stay the reshuffle and expansion of the Cabinet following the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) on May 22 has made KP Sharma Oli and his government a laughing stock of the parties and people, apart from suffering a political blow. The apex court issued the interim order in response to separate writ petitions filed against the induction of 20 ministers in the government on two dates – June 4 and 10. Thus, the interim order has nullified the appointment of these ministers – eight of them having assumed office for just 12 days – as the court observed that the Cabinet reshuffle appeared to be against the spirit of the constitution. A division bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana and Justice Prakash Kumar Dhungana observed that as the Prime Minister was no longer a member of the HoR following its dissolution, he had no right to expand or reshuffle the Cabinet. Moreover, it noted that Article 77 (3) of the constitution stipulated that when the prime minister ceases to hold office, the same Council of Ministers shall continue to act until another one is formed.
This is not the first time that the decisions taken by Prime Minister Oli have been stayed, or invalidated, by the SC. Earlier, on June 10, it had stayed the implementation of the Ordinance to Amend the Nepali Citizenship Act that would have provided citizenship to almost half a million children of citizens by birth and children of Nepali mothers whose fathers could not be traced.
The Oli government had issued the ordinance on May 24, just two days after dissolving the House of Representatives and declaring the mid-term polls in a bid to woo the Mahantha Thakur-Rajedra Mahalo faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N) to join the government. Provision of citizenship to children of citizens by birth was the key demand of the Thakur-Mahato faction of the JSP-N, whose leaders later joined Oli's government in droves, including as the deputy prime minister. And on February 23, the SC reinstated the House that PM Oli had dissolved for the first time on December 20 last year following differences with other leaders of his party.
When the SC reverses the decisions taken by the government time and again, it means that they are not being made by following the constitution in both letter and spirit. This does not augur well for the image of PM Oli or that of the President, who has landed in controversy in recent times for allegedly doing the bidding of the Prime Minister without holding consultations with experts on the issues concerned. Following the SC's interim order, the Oli government has been left with just four ministers, who must now continue to work as the caretaker government until a new council of ministers can be formed. Nepal is facing a political crisis at a time when the country, like the rest of the world, is battling the second wave of the coronavirus, and its economy has been battered by weeks of prohibitory orders. Now the SC's verdict on the House dissolution for the second time by PM Oli is keenly awaited. Should the court decide against it, it could very well be the decisive blow to Oli's political career.
Give them skills
Socially and economically underprivileged people cannot join the development mainstream and contribute to the nation-building process unless they are supported by the three tiers of government on a sustainable basis. People from the underprivileged community should be provided with technical, financial and moral support so as to lift them out of poverty. One cannot become self-employed unless s/ he is given life-skill trainings familiar to them.
Women from the Tharu community, for example, are traditionally skilled at weaving colourful baskets and other decorative goods made out of the roots of the lotus plant. These women can earn a decent living if the local levels and other government agencies were to help them enhance their indigenous skills and support them in marketing their goods. Simply doling out money to the poor or marginalised groups from the state coffer does not help them lift themselves out of poverty. In this context, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has urged all local levels to formulate policies and programmes to mainstream the excluded groups. It is better to teach them how to fish rather than give them one when they are hungry.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 24 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
