Winter House session ends without business

The winter session of the reinstated House of Representatives was prorogued without discussing and approving any of the 36 bill drafts tabled earlier.

As Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was against the reinstatement of the House, he tried his best to make it dysfunctional without giving a single business. Instead, he recommended for its sudden prorogation fearing registration of a no-confidence motion against the government. Oli is probably the only Prime Minister of Nepal to undermine the people-elected parliament after the restoration of democracy in 1990.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari had prorogued the 7th session of the House of Representatives from 1:00 pm on Monday on the recommendation of the government.

A cabinet meeting held

Monday morning had decided to prorogue the session.

No bill drafts were tabled except for 16 condolence messages and two reports of the parliamentary committee, one of them on 'Nepal Engineering Council-2019' and another on 'Federal Civil Service-2018' in the nine meetings of the winter session of the reinstated House.

Altogether 55 bills - 36 bills that emerged in the House of Representatives and 19 in the National Assembly were waiting their turn for endorsement.

Bills on Security Council, Human Rights Commission, Pokhara Health and Science Academy, Peace and Security and National Priority Projects' Fast Construction and Development were distributed to the lawmakers before they could be discussed in detail in the House.

The draft on 'Nepal Special Service Act-2019' already completed theoretical discussion.

The winter session of the House that began on March 7 sat only nine times after the Supreme Court reinstated it in a verdict on February 23. The government had drawn flaks for not giving businesses to the parliament. The sudden prorogation of the House which was done without consulting with Speaker Sapkota and opposition parties also drew criticism from the Nepali Congress and other parties. Speaker Sapkota also expressed his dissatisfaction over the sudden prorogation of the House. He said that no consultation was made with him before the prorogation notice came to his office.

A Central Working Committee Meeting of the Nepali Congress on Monday objected to the government move to abruptly prorogue the winter session of the House of Representatives.

Taking the unexpected prorogation of the House seriously, the meeting concluded that it was a move against democratic norms, values and the parliamentary system as the House ended a day before its scheduled meeting was to convene.

“The meeting condemns the government`s autocratic attitudes” read a statement issued by the party after the meeting.