The motion of public importance filed last week by Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Thapa in Parliament seeking impeachment of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority chief Lokman Singh Karki has lost its relevance. According to parliamentary practice, a minister cannot be a proposer of a motion in Parliament.

“Being a minister, Thapa cannot be the proposer now. There is a committee that needs to choose a motion for discussion and the committee is yet to pick the issue,” said Sudarshan Kuinkel, assistant spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat. “The Speaker has to decide on how to proceed further since we do not a clear provision when a proposer of certain motion becomes a minister.”

Last week, a nine-member committee led by lawmaker Min Bishwokarma rejected the motion filed by Thapa for discussion. Bishwokarma said they had given the issues of road traffic accidents priority over others. “We are still discussing whether to include the issue of Lokman Singh Karki for the motion,” said Bishwokarma.   

On July 21, around the time when Dr Govinda KC was staging his eighth hunger strike, Thapa had submitted the proposal of public importance at the House while NC lawmaker Dhanraj Gurung and Maoist lawmaker Shyam Shrestha seconded it. Thapa had argued that since there had been a lot of protests and talks on the CIAA chief, it is essential for Parliament to look into it.

On Thursday, Lawmaker Gurung posted on his twitter handle that he had been informed by the general secretary of the Parliament Secretariat that the motion could not proceed forward.

Minister Thapa, however, maintains that the other three lawmakers can file the motion again. “Gurung can be the proposer, while the other two can second it. Besides, the Speaker has assured us that the motion will be prioritised,” he said.