The government has introduced two ordinances by postponing a previously summoned parliamentary session, bypassing parliamentary procedure.
Earlier, based on a recommendation made by the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Balen Shah on April 21, President Ram Chandra Paudel had summoned a session of both houses of the Federal Parliament.
The session, scheduled for April 30, was later postponed by the president on April 23 based on another recommendation of the Cabinet.
At that time, PM Shah’s press advisor and research expert Deepa Dahal stated that the session was postponed due to insufficient preparation.
“The government recommended to the president to postpone the Parliament session as preparations were not complete for the budget session. Accordingly, the president decided to postpone the Parliament session,” she said.
Some ministers also said that the session was postponed because there was “no business” for Parliament.
However, just a week after postponing the session citing lack of preparation, the government has now sent two ordinances to the president, effectively bypassing parliamentary procedure.
A Cabinet meeting held on Monday recommended ordinances on the Constitutional Council and cooperatives.
Interestingly, government spokesperson and Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel mentioned only three Cabinet decisions while briefing the media, and did not include the ordinance recommendation.
When asked on Tuesday, President Paudel’s press advisor Kiran Pokharel confirmed that the two ordinances had been received and said that they were under review.
Of the two ordinances, the ordinance on Constitutional Council is particularly significant, as it is related to the appointment of the chief justice and officials of constitutional bodies. There are speculations that the government suspended the Parliament session specifically to bring this ordinance to make appointments favorable to itself.
At present, appointments are due for positions including the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the chief election commissioner, along with heads of various constitutional bodies.
The Constitutional Council consists of six members: the prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, chairperson of the National Assembly, chief justice, and the leader of the main opposition party.
The Nepali Congress, which appointed Bhishma Raj Angdembe as parliamentary party leader on Monday, has already protested the move.
NC spokesperson Devaraj Chalise said that bypassing Parliament to introduce ordinances is not dignified.
"We found that the Parliament session was postponed on the government’s recommendation after the president had summoned it on the government’s recommendation. Postponing a Parliament session that had already been summoned and bringing ordinances instead is not a dignified move," Chalise said.
