Miscellaneous
Call to accelerate drafting of all Acts
The Parliament Secretariat has urged the government to complete drafting all Acts that the House has to endorse, latest by February next year, to implement fully the Constitution of Nepal.The Parliament Secretariat has urged the government to complete drafting all Acts that the House has to endorse, latest by February next year, to implement fully the Constitution of Nepal.
The statute stipulates drafting laws concerning fundamental rights of citizens within three years of promulgating the constitution. The remaining Acts need endorsement within a year of convening the first meeting of the Federal Parliament.
The Federal Parliament must endorse all Acts concerning fundamental rights before September 19, while the remaining by March 4, 2019. Nepal promulgated its constitution on September 20, 2015 while the Federal Parliament held its first meeting on March 5.
Currently, the Federal Parliament has to promulgate 41 Acts. The provincial parliaments have to endorse 22. Local governments have to approve six other.
Around a third of the total 308 Articles in ‘Constitution of Nepal 2015’ need either new Acts and regulations or amendments in the existing legal provisions before implementing them.
Speaking to the media in the Capital on Wednesday, Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara said, “I have told Prime Minister Oli the urgency of the needed laws and told the respective ministries to prepare draft laws within a month.”
The new session of the Federal Parliament starts in the second week of May; he said and added the session would have busy days to meet the deadline to endorse the new Acts set by the statute.
“Around a month would go discussing the government’s plans, policies and budget which mean we do not have much time to endorse the needed laws,” Mahara said.
On the topic of Parliamentary Committees, he said he is “not in favour of many committees”. He said the Secretariat had suggested seven committees for the House of Representatives.
Despite Mahara’s view of fewer committees, the regulation drafting committee of the parliament has agreed to have 10 thematic committees in the HoR.