PM calls Constitutional Council meeting

KATHMANDU : Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has called meeting of the Constitutional Council.

Ashok Paudel, press coordinator of National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timalsina, told PM Oli has called the meeting for five Wednesday evening.

Main opposition leader in the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR) Sher Bahadur Deuba has not been invited to the meeting yet. “There is no information yet. He was the main opposition leader earlier when there was parliament. Why would they invite after the House dissolution?” Deuba’s associate Bhanu Deuba .

The meeting has been called after Speaker Agni Sapkota sent back the recommendations by the Constitutional Council for parliamentary hearing of officials recommended for constitutional bodies.

The Constitutional Council after PM Oli dissolved the House on December 20 had announced that all the vacancies in constitutional bodies were filled before the House dissolution.

The Constitutional Council meeting on December 15 had decided to fill the vacancies. The meeting held hours after PM Oli unilaterally brought the ordinance with a provision that allows decision in the Constitutional Council with support of the majority of the existing members had recommended to fill all the vacant constitutional positions.

The decision was not made public immediately and revealed only after the House dissolution.

Speaker Sapkota has sent back the recommendations saying hearing cannot be conducted as the House of Representatives has been dissolved.

National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timalsina has then argued that speaker cannot send back the recommendations by the Constitutional Council except when ordered by the court.

“There is no legal provision for any body or official other than the two-third majority of the parliamentary hearing committee to reject or send back the recommendations by the Constitutional Council for hearing,” Chairman Timalsina has said issuing a statement on Monday.

Prem Kumar Rai was recommended for the post of Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) chief. Former Nepal Police AIG Jaya Kumar Chand and Kishor Kumar Silwal were recommended as CIAA commissioners.

The then coalition government of Maoists and Nepali Congress (NC) under Pushpa Kamal Dahal had appointed Chand, who is close to NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, as IGP but the Apext Court had later revoked the appointment.

Senior advocate Ram Prasad Bhandari and Janaki Tuladhar, meanwhile, were recommended as Election Commission commissioners.

Similarly, Tap Bahadur Magar was recommended chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.

Setopati