Valley
Govt to fix temp ‘meeting venues’, not state HQs
As confusion over fixing the capitals of seven provinces continues, the government is set to announce temporary “meeting venues” instead for the swearing-in of newly elected provincial parliamentarians.As confusion over fixing the capitals of seven provinces continues, the government is set to announce temporary “meeting venues” instead for the swearing-in of newly elected provincial parliamentarians.
In order to run the maiden provincial parliaments, the government is working to name temporary places, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The PMO statement clearly avoided “provincial capitals” while only using the term “place”. The government has the constitutional responsibility of fixing temporary venues to run provincial parliaments until the respective state assemblies name their capitals, the statement read.
Due to demonstrations demanding capital status in several parts of the country, the government is said to be in no mood to designate temporary Capitals without consensus among the political parties.
According to Article 288 (2) of the constitution, the Provincial Parliament fixes the permanent capital.
The government is going to name temporary places to ease the oath taking process, said NC leader Bal Krishna Khand.
Sources said a decision to this effect will be taken by the Cabinet on Thursday. The meeting would also appoint governors or provincial chiefs.
On the appointment of provincial chiefs, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is holding back-channel talks with the CPN-UML, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Madhes-based parties.
The government is said to have taken a conciliatory approach to naming temporary venues for swearing in provincial lawmakers.
Earlier, there was a plan to invite all the provincial parliament members to Kathmandu for the oath. The idea was widely criticised as being against the spirit of federalism.