A dispute between the ruling and opposition parties over the size of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee has delayed the finalisation of parliamentary regulations. A meeting of top leaders of the major political parties called by Speaker Onsari Gharti on Monday failed to forge an agreement after both the sides were firm on their demands.

The opposition, including the Nepali Congress and other fringe parties, wants continuation of the 73-member hearing committee, while the CPN-UML-led ruling alliance is in favour of reducing its size as provisioned in the new constitution. The new charter envisages a 15-member parliamentary hearing committee having members from both the House of Representatives and National Assembly. The opposition parties are of the view that the 15-member committee cannot have representation of all the parties in the Legislature-Parliament. Currently, there are 31 parties including two independent lawmakers.

The ruling parties, however, maintain that as Article 296 authorises the current Parliament to conduct all the activities under the prerogative of the Federal Legislature until the elections are conducted, the Hearing Committee must follow the constitutional provision.

It has been more than three months that the Drafting Committee led by NC lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari was tasked with formulating the regulations. The deadline of the committee has already been extended thrice. “The NC and the UML have refused to budge from their positions. The dispute should be resolved by the top leadership in two weeks,” Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal Chief Whip Dil Nath Giri said after the meeting.

The House meeting slated for Tuesday will be adjourned till February 12 as the NC

is holding its District and VDC conventions. Had the parties agreed on the regulations, Parliament would endorse it on Tuesday before the winter session is ended. “The parties have agreed to prorogue the winter session after the February 12 meeting,” Giri said.