The major political parties are still struggling to find a bridging point on the size of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee, delaying finalisation of the House regulations.

A meeting of top leaders of the major parties convened by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Saturday was indecisive after the ruling and opposition parties differed on the size of the hearing committee.

The opposition, including the largest NC 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 committee.

“The NC remained firm on continuing with the 73-member committee. The meeting has been called for Sunday to take a final decision,” said Dilnath Giri, chief whip of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, who attended the meeting.

According to him, PM Oli asked the NC at the meeting to agree on the 15-member committee arguing that it would be unconstitutional to continue with the larger panel. However, the NC leaders stuck to the party’s stance.

After failing to resolve the dispute over the size of the committee for six months, the Regulation Drafting Committee on May 2 submitted its report to the full House along with the differences. Lawmakers can register amendments to the draft till Monday.

In the lack of the House rules, hearing for the appointment of the chief justice, 11 Supreme Court justices and 22 ambassadors has not been conducted a month after their nominations. The NC has expressed its displeasure at the “unilateral” recommendation of the justices and ambassadors.

“The regulation is now in Parliament, which has the sole authority to decide on it,” said Giri. It would be put to a vote in the first week of June if there is no consensus. Next Parliament meeting is on May 26 for pre-budget discussion.