The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) on Wednesday unanimously elected Nepali Congress leader Kul Bahadur Gurung as its chairman, opening the door for the committee to start the hearing of the nominees for various constitutional posts and diplomatic missions.

Gurung’s candidacy was proposed by CPN-UML lawmaker Ganesh Man Gurung and seconded by NC Chief Whip Chinkaji Shrestha.

The Parliament Secretariat had called for nominations to be filed by 5pm Tuesday.

The NC, which had pressed for a 75-member hearing committee for months, had later agreed on a 15-strong panel after the ruling coalition assured that committee leadership it would be given to the main opposition.

“The first meeting under my leadership has been called for Thursday which will endorse the working procedure of the committee,” Gurung told the Post after his election as PHSC chair.

A three-member team comprising Ganesh Man Gurung of the CPN-UML, Ananda Prasad Dhungana of the NC and Anita Kumari Yadav of the CPN (Maoist Centre) was formed on Monday to draft the working procedure of the PHSC.

According to Ganesh Man Gurung, the committee is likely to start the process on Thursday as the secretariat will submit the list before the PHSC meeting. “We will issue a 10-day notice to file complaints against the nominees,” he said. “The first hearing is likely to begin on July 4.”

Parliament on Sunday endorsed the Legislature Parliament Business Operation Regulations-2016, ending an eight-month stalemate between the ruling and opposition parties over the size of the PHSC.

The hearing committee has six members from the NC, four from the UML, two from the Maoist Centre and one each from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik.

The appointments of the chief justice, the chief election commissioner,

justices and ambassadors have been halted in the absence of the hearing committee. CJ nominee Sushila Karki and CEC nominee Ayodhee Prasad Yadav have been working as acting heads.