Without business, current session of parliament getting prorogued

The jubilation of political parties, lawmakers and aware citizens after the restoration of House of Representatives (HoR) has gradually diminished; and now there are signals that the HoR session is getting terminated for not having any business.

The restored HoR turned bleak after the dispute within the ruling party and distrust among parties did not subside even after the SC verdict on HoR restoration. The parties' inaction left the House ineffective. The session which is regarded as the bill session has a long list of bills for entry and deliberation. It has been long that the bills on citizenship, on federal civil service, on information technology etc. were waiting deliberation.

Keeping aside the disruption of the session, the summer session (budget session) of the parliament should be begun within a month as per the rule. However, the prorogation of current session is not unnatural at this condition, according to lawmakers.

CPN UML parliamentary party chief whip Bishal Bhattarai said, "It was natural to have delayed session due to HoR dissolution. As we have the schedule to call next session within a month, this session won't go long. However, we're for smooth running of the session as long as it continues."

He blamed the lack of active role by the Speaker on making the parliament session effective.

Similarly, parliamentary hearing committee Chair Laxman Lal Karna admitted that although there was long list of issues to be discussed by this session, it failed to do so. "Both upper and lower house of the parliament should run simultaneously to finalize the bills. And it is natural too to end the parliament session than making the lower house inactive. The next session of the parliament should be utilized to discuss and finalize the pending bills."

Some parliamentarians commented that there was a short of preparation for the House business as the government was focused on holding elections before the apex court decision on parliament reinstatement.

They argued that there was no condition to expect much from the Session when the ruling party had fallen apart with the apex court verdict.

The House of Representatives that has started since March 7 so far held six meetings. However, almost all these meetings were limited to endorse the condolence motion and offer tribute to former and sitting members of parliament.

A total of 16 condolence motions were endorsed during the meeting. The session also saw a surprising circumstance that the ordinance which was to constitutionally table at the first meeting of the session was not registered in the session.

The ongoing session would not most probably last long as it takes time for the preparation for summer Session.

The summer session should be called no later than first week of May as there was a statutory date to present budget within May 28 and pre-budget discussion and government's policy and programme are required to be presented before 15 days as per the constitutional arrangement.