The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has reminded different ministries to review the existing Acts to ascertain the laws related to them are consistent with the spirit of the constitution and revise any that are against the constitutional provisions.

In its latest circular, the Law Ministry has asked 22 ministries, including Prime Minister’s Office, to report it by Tuesday after necessary revisions. The ministries concerned have been tasked with preparing the needed laws in conjunction with different government agencies. A total of 339 Acts related to different ministries, which came into effect before the promulgation of the new constitution, need to be reviewed to ascertain that they are consistent with the constitution.

Binod Bhattarai, under-secretary at the Law Ministry, expressed fear that the laws might not be ready within the constitutional deadline as none of the 22 ministries has complied to its circular.

“This is disappointing. The delay will result in huge pressure both on the government and federal parliament to meet the deadline,” Bhattarai told the Post.

According to Article 304 of the constitution, any law that is inconsistent with it will be invalid to the extent of such inconsistency one year after the first meeting of the federal parliament. As the first meeting of the federal parliament, which was elected as per the new statute, was held on March 5, the final deadline for revision of all the laws ends on March 4 next year.

He called on the ministries to be mindful of the fact that there are different phases that need to be followed before the federal parliament endorses the amendment in the Acts that need revisions and that takes time. “Our repeated reminders to them have fallen on deaf ears,” Bhattarai said, adding that the Law Ministry had started the revision process.

“We have started preliminary revision of the laws on our own, and expect to complete it in two weeks.”

The respective ministries are required to formulate amendment drafts after their assessment, and send them to the Law Ministry for study to ensure they are consistent with the constitution provisions. After clearance from the Law Ministry, respective ministries will register the drafts at the parliament secretariat.

The winter session of the federal parliament is uncertain in the lack of business due to delay in formulating the amendment drafts. It takes at least two weeks to

get an Act endorsed from both the Houses. Every Act needs approval from the

HoR and National Assembly before coming into effect after the President’s

authentication.