A day after a parliamentary committee directed the government to form a local body restructuring commission, Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development Kamal Thapa said that the commission would be set up within three weeks.

On Thursday, the Development Committee of the Legislature-Parliament had directed the government to form a commission to determine the number and borders of Village and Municipal Councils as required by the new constitution. Article 295 states that the commission should be formed within six months of the commencement of the constitution with one-year tenure. Since the constitution was promulgated on September 20 last year, the commission has to be formed in less than two months from now.

Speaking at a programme in Kavre district on Friday, Minister Thapa said the commission would be formed by mid-February.

According to Article 56 of the new constitution, the state will be restructured into three levels—federal, provincial and local. At the local level, the constitution outlines Village Councils, Municipal Councils and District Assemblies which replace the existing Village Development Committees, municipalities and District Development Committees.

There is one metropolitan city, 12 sub-metropolitan cities, 204 municipalities and 3,157 VDCs in the country. Despite the constitutional requirement of a separate commission for determining the number and boundaries of the local bodies, the government is preparing to announce more municipalities. Fiscal decentralisation expert Khim Lal Devkota said the government’s decision circumvents constitutional provisions and was unjustifiable.