Keeping its reservations over other committees intact, the opposition Nepali Congress has recommended the names of its lawmakers for the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee, which will be formed on Monday if the House of Representatives functions on the day.

The dispute over their leadership has delayed formation of the committees as the opposition demands chair of four panels, which the ruling parties deny. Amid the dispute, the NC recommended the names for the PHSC. Appointments to crucial constitutional positions and ambassadorial vacancies have been delayed in the absence of the hearing committee.

Among the 16 committees in the federal parliament, PHSC is a common committee for which the National Assembly has already nominated Suman Pyakurel and Nanda Chapai from the Nepal Communist Party and Jitendra Narayan Dev from the NC. The Lower House is yet to name members for the committee even as all the parties have submitted their names to the Parliament Secretariat.

According to a senior official, the ruling NCP has recommended Surendra Pandey, Yogesh Bhattarai, Purna Kumari Subedi, Amrita Thapa, Niru Pal, Parbat Gurung and Shiva Kumar Mandal for the committee while the opposition has chosen Pushpa Bhusal Gautam, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Bhimsen Das Pradhan. Laxman Lal Karna of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal and Rajendra Shrestha of the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal will be the other members. The official said Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara will formally announce the 15-member committee at the upcoming meeting of the HoR. Although the Constitutional Council has already picked Deepak Raj Joshee as the chief justice, his appointment has been delayed in the lack of parliamentary hearing.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has been without the chief commissioner for over four months. Nabin Ghimire is the acting chief of the constitutional anti-graft body after chief commissioner Deep Basnyat retired on February 12.