The House of Representatives, Regulations Drafting Committee is doing home work to incorporate in the regulation the provision on automatic suspension of the post of Member of Parliament if a criminal case is filed against the MP or if the lawmaker is taken into custody for investigation.

Committee coordinator Krishna Bhakta Pokharel,speaking at a programme organised by Reporters Club Nepal here today, said provision is being made in the law in which the MP's post would be automatically suspended if the lawmaker is serving term in prison after being convicted in a case filed against him/her in the past.

He said provision is being made in the law for lifting the suspension if the court gives 'innocent' verdict to the MP against whom the case has been filed and for relieving the MP from the post if the court pronounces a 'guilty' verdict. Pokharel said in case an MP is relieved of his/her post, a re-election would be held in the particular constituency from where the MP who has been relieved of the post was elected.

Committee coordinator Pokharel also said that the new regulation would also have provision requiring the Prime Minister to be present in the parliament two times a month and respond to MPs questions.

According to him, the regulation would also have the provision by which Ministers concerned would have to respond to the questions raised by MPs during the special and zero hour of the parliament sessions.

Pokharel said an agreement has been reached with the opposition parties regarding limiting the number of parliamentary committees to 10 only as the committees could not work in an effective manner though greater in number in the past.

Committee member Meen Bahadur Bishwakarma argued that the number of parliamentary committees should be reduced to seven. He said the independence of the judiciary should not be compromised when making the regulation, stressing that the parliament should not directly supervise the judiciary.

He also stated that there is no alternative other than the ruling parties and the opposition parties working together as the parliament was required to enact nearly 300 laws in six months. RSS