|
|
Lohani’s swearing in
protested in House Kathmandu, July 6 (RSS): The MPs claimed that the swearing-in was against the regulations of the House
of Representatives. Taking time from Speaker Taranath Ranabhat, CPN-UML’s Mahendra Bahadur
Pandey said that though the 1990-Constitution has established the supremacy of the
Constitution and made the people sovereign, attempts are being made from various quarters
to weaken the multi-party system and conspiracy has already begun to return the
totalitarian regime. Arguing that Dr Lohani, who was declared winner by the election tribunal from
Nuwakot district constituency no. 1, has been administered the oath of office against the
Rule 227 of the House of Representatives regulations, Mr Pandey observed that if the
speaker himself violates the rule, it is not necessary for the MPs to abide by it and so
“I return the regulations.” Agreeing with the views of Mr Pandey, when the CPN-UML MPs stood up from
their seats and started banging the tables, Speaker Ranabhat asked Mr Pandey to elaborate
how Rule 227 was violated and urged other MPs to calm down and let the House proceedings
continue. Demanding time from the speaker, Subash Nemwang of the same party remarked
that if the country’s Constitution, laws and regulations are not put into practice,
it will be meaningless. We are committed to the rule of law and the judiciary, but this does not mean
that we will tolerate any wrong doings done in the name of independence of the judiciary,
he further said. Stating that the decision of the election tribunal will not be final and one
can appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court, Mr Nemwang observed that the act of
swearing-in at a time when the verdict has been challenged at the Supreme Court has
restricted independence of the judiciary. Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha noted that the recent decision of
the Election Tribunal clearly substantiates the fact that the multi-party system is never
in favour of the nation and the people and informed the meeting that his party boycotted
today’s meeting. RPP’s Pashupati Shamsher J. B. Rana said his party will always respect
the court’s verdict and it is the responsibility of the speaker to implement the
court’s decision. RPP’s Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani accused the opposition parties of
ignoring the decision of the court and acting against the concept of the rule of
law. Lilamani Pokherel of the Samyukta Jana Morcha expressed the view that whether
a person makes a berth in Parliament is not important, what is important is whether the
legal processes have been followed or not. Narayan Man Bijukchhe of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party noted that
Parliament boycott and protests are within the system of democracy. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya has said that
amendment had been made in the Finance Bill as the provision for receiving bill for VAT
while purchasing goods for government underarticle 56 of the VAT Regulations-2053 B.S. and
the Financial Administration Regulations-2056 B.S. were contradictory. Responding to queries pertaining to his ministry at today’s
meeting of the House of Representatives, Minister Acharya said adjustment was made between
the VAT and the Financial Administration Regulations by amending the contradictory
portion. In answer to another query, Mr Acharya said there is no plan for opening a
regional office of the Employees Provident Fund at Birendranagar, Surkhet. MPs posing questions to Minister Acharya were MPs Hridayaram Thani and Ram
Bahadur Bista. Similarly, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ram Krishna
Tamrakar, answering a question of MP Harilal Joshi, said regular supply of foodgrains is
continuing in constituency no. 3 of Gorkha district and it will not be stopped. The House of Representatives will meet again at 11 a.m. on June 10. Meanwhile, chairman of the House of Representatives Environment Conservation
Committee Surya Prasad Pradhan tabled the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (second
amendment) Bill-2056 B.S. along with the committee’s report at the House of
Representatives today. At the meeting, the secretary of the House of Representatives tabled the
message of the National Assembly relating to the Royal Nepalese Army Fourth Amendment
Bill-2056 returned by the Upper House without any suggestions. Meanwhile, Speaker Taranath Ranabhat said that the House of Representatives
Regulations-2054 B.S. does not make any provision for administering oath to member of
Parliament declared elected by court. Mr Ranabhat said that Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani was administered the oath of
MP after he felt that it would not be proper under such circumstances to oppose the
verdict of the court and make any electoral constituency memberless. Clarifying the issue after the CPN-UML and other communist parties boycotted
today’s meeting of the Lower House in protest of this issue, Speaker Ranabhat said
Rule 227 of House of Representatives regulations has necessary procedures regarding the
administering of oath to a representative acquiring certificate from the polling officer
but does not have any provision regarding the representative elected through a decision of
court. The oath taking ceremony was carried out by exercising the powers provided by Rule
260 of the regulations, he added. Rule-260 of the House of Representatives regulations states that “the
speaker has the right to interpret the regulations and his decision will be final”. Stating that after receiving the verdict of the court at 9:00 a.m. on July 4,
he consulted with the attorney general, the legal advisor to the Parliament, the secretary
general and the secretaries of the Parliament and asked for suggestions and comment of the
Election Commission on the matter in response to which the Election Commission informed
that there was no possibility of its meeting and that there was no legal provision for
giving or not giving or who will give a certificate to a representative elected by the
court’s decision, Mr Speaker said that as the court only had the power to issue a
stay order he had no other option but to enforce the court’s decision. Speaker Ranabhat
said as there is a provision for appealing against the verdict of the election tribunal,
and if the court reverses the decision of the Election Tribunal it will also be enforced. Govt to help organisations in environment protection: DPM BY A STAFF
REPORTER Kathmandu, July
6: The Trust set up
with a revolving fund of Rs. 500 thousand has a plan to plant 5,000 saplings within the
green belts of the Ring Road during this year. “To protect
environment and the rich bio-diversity of the country should be a concern of all,”
VOITH Chairman Bijaya Gajananda Vaidhya said today. Vaidhya said this while addressing a
function organised as a part of a weeklong function to observe the World Environment Day
2000. “The
government will assist the organisations involved in environment protection,” Deputy
Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said. Poudel said that organising seminars and workshops
alone would not protect environment and lauded VOITH that focused on action. Himalayan
Bank’s Chairman Himalaya SJB Rana lauded the social and environment protection works
done by VOITH in Kathmandu Valley. “Japan is
very much concerned about the environment of Kathmandu Valley and has been involved in
various projects to protect this Valley’s environment, Japanese Ambassador to Nepal
Mitsuaki Kojima said. “Environment protection, however, demands efforts on part of
all.” Toyota Company
is aware of environment problems and is doing its best to produce and supply
pollution-free vehicles, Toyota Motor Corporation’s General Manager Akira Akabe - who
flew in to Kathmandu to participate in the programme - said. On the occasion,
Deputy Prime Minister Poudel also gave away letter of commendation to Hutaram Vaidhya, Dr.
Safalya Amatya and Nir Bikram Shah on behalf of VOITH for their contribution in
environment protection, preservation of archaeological goods and promotion of art and
culture respectively. VOITH - with its
motto of ‘Little Things We Do’ - has been running various programmes to protect
the environment of the capital valley. NC lawmakers concerned about law and order Kathmandu, July 6 (RSS): According to a report from his residence, former prime minister Bhattarai
drew the attention of the lawmakers to the law and order situation, failure to reach the
fruits of development to the people and disunity in the party. The lawmakers underlined the need for seeking a solution to the problems
through an open discussion with the government and also within the party. During the meeting, most of the lawmakers said that the problems are becoming
serious and suggested forging unity within the party, sorting out of the problems through
dialogue between the two senior leaders and putting the right person in the right place. Minister for
Health Ram Baran Yadav, Minister of State for Forests and Soil Conservation Mohammed Aftab
Alam, Ex-Ministers Yog Prasad Upadhyaya, Basu Risal, Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, Prakash Man
Singh, Omkar Prasad Shrestha, Ex- Minister of State Dr. Gangadhar Lamsal, MPs Rishi Kesh
Gautam, Savitri Bogati, Ramnath Adhikari, Ramhari Dhungel, Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Ajay
Kumar Chaurasiya, Pharmulla Mansur, Narayan Prasad Sharma, Ramchandra Tiwari, Eknath
Ranabhat, Prakash Koirala, D.B. Lama, Rabindra Lal Shrestha, Devendra Kandel (because of
his absence from an earlier meeting with MPs from the western region), Arvinda Thakur,
Bhim Bahadur Shrestha, Mahendra Kumar Raya, Mahendra Yadav, Shiv Humagain, Mahendra Kumar
Misra And Chitralekha Yadav (from the eastern region) were present on the occasion. Janakpur has potentials to tap BY GANDHI RAJ KAFLE Janakpurdham, July 6: In fact, Janakpur Municipality is oozing several problems before its
denizens. Yet, the Municipality Mayor Bajaranga Prasad Shah, who won the election for
the post in the capacity of an independent candidate nearly three years ago, is hopeful of
the reforms he had initiated for the town. “Janakpur Municipality is still burdened with financial and
administrative problems of the past. We cannot solve these things immediately, so, our
focus is on urgent works,” Mayor Shah said. The municipality has a remarkable amount of old dues left unpaid. Of the
total liabilities worth Rs 16 million, we have cleared nearly Rs 6 million rupees till
now, Shah said. Janakpur Municipality runs with annual budget of 40 million rupees. Had not
there been heavy amount of dues left over by previous administrations, the municipality
reforms would have been taken its concrete shape with our annual budget. We had to even
pay for the provident fund for the staff left over by the previous administration, Mayor
Shah said. “As soon as we cope with these problems, we will be able to divert our
resources for municipality development,” he stated. Despite the mayor’s optimism and assurances, dissatisfaction over the
poor performance here seems to be growing. Janakpur needs a competent leadership for its
all-around development, but present leadership has not been able to show that it can
tackle the outstanding issues of the town, commented a former mayor of the town on
condition of anonymity. Deepa Maharjan, a woman representative of the municipality from Ward No. 4,
however, holds a different view for the development of the town. She says ward members and
ward chiefs, who reside in the concerned ward and represent it, actually know the real
local probems of concerned wards. So, for productive results, local or grass-root units need to be empowered
financially and administratively, she emphasises. Janakpur has a great tourism potentials. There are many temples and Kundas
(ponds) of religious values here. These are the pride of the town. The need of the hour is
to preserve them by according them priority, Chief Priest Ram Tapeshwor Das of the Janaki
Temple said. However, even as the former and present town leaders trade criticism, but
they all talk of development of Janakpur. “Only the implementation part has been
fragile,” Boudha Mandal, a trader, said while summarising the problems of the town in
a few words. The town needs to broaden its local tax base to meet the growing expenses.
But the government should also cooperate to preserve its old identity because it’s a
big and important task, a shopkeeper at Janaki Chowk suggested. UML MPs stay away from Upper House Kathmandu, July 6 (RSS): Taking time from chairman Dr. Mohammad Mohsin, Surendra Prasad Pandey of the
CPN-UML alleged that Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani of the RPP from Nuwakot district
constituecy No. 1 was administered oath in contravention to the rules and regulations,
adding that the parliamentary system and multi-party democracy would weaken as the speaker
himself had violated the rules and regulations of the House. As the main opposition CPN-UML has already appealed to the Supreme Court for
reviewing the case, Mr Pandey had requested the Speaker not to administer the oath, but
the Speaker did not consult the opposition on this matter and administered the oath. He strongly objected to the administering of oath of office to Dr. Lohani in
contravention of the rules and regulations of the House. Stating that the oath should have been administered only after receiving the
verdict of the Supreme Court, Mr Pandey said as there is provision for appeal, the
judgement of the special election tribunal could not be considered final. MP Pandey said that as the lower court could make mistakes, a provision had
been for an apex court to correct such mistakes. Then the MPs of the CPN-UML walked out of the House. Meanwhile, National Assembly Chairman Dr.Mohammad Mohsin has said that the
constitution and the rules clearly states that voice cannot be raised at the National
Assembly on the action taken by the speaker of the House of Representatives. Dr. Moshin made this remark when the CPN-UML MPs stayed away from the Upper
House protesting against the administering of oath by Speaker of the House of
Representatives to Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani of the RPP, declared winner by special
election tribunal, Patan in contravention of the rules of the House. Our constitution and law clearly states that the matter under consideration
in the court cannot be raised in the Parliament, Dr. Mohsin said, adding that even though
the CPN-UML MPs had boycotted the House, the proceedings of the House would continue as
the MPs of other parties were present in the House. Then the regular proceeding of the Upper House continued. MP Rajeswar Devkota, taking part at the special time at the meeting of the
National Assembly today, said as the intellectuals were expressing the views that
nationalism and sovereignty of the country were being affected, should the parliament be
serious on these matters or not. Stating that the law and order situation in the country is alarming, and the
border is being encroached upon continuously but the government is keeping silent, he said
that MPs should be serious on these matters. Keshav Lal Shrestha of the CPN-ML alleged that the government was not
sensitive on providing qualitative health services to the people and suggested that drug
dealers should be imparted training for proper sale and use of medicines. Stressing the need to promote tourism in the country, Shukra Raj Samyok of
the Nepali Congress demanded special programme for the protection and promotion of
rhododendrons. Ganga Dutta Joshi of the same party said that the quality of education was
declining and the government had made the temporary teachers working for one year
permanent and a petition had been filed at the Supreme Court in this regard. He asked what
would be situation of education under these circumstances. He said that the
government should be sensitive on protecting the rights of all the children to receive
equal education opportunities. Studies to check population growth Kathmandu, July 6 (RSS): Responding to verbal questions raised by MPs at the National Assembly today,
Mr Upadhyaya noted that His Majesty’s Government will provide permanent status to
these schools on priority basis with the limited means and resources at its disposal from
the next fiscal year. Tilak Prasad Neupane of the Nepali Congress had asked question to the
minister. Minister of State for Population and Environment Shivraj Joshi remarked that
the ministry has been carrying out studies and researches in order to check population
growth and has launched various programmes for preparing demographic manpower and for
conducting informative and educative programmes associated with population management. Standards to be observed for the operation of three-wheelers in Kathmandu
valley have already been implemented and such vehicles are required to obtain green
stickers, said Mr Joshi, adding that as regards the vehicles belonging to government,
corporation and diplomatic missions, they have to have the green stickers to ply on the
roads. NC’s Jagannath Paudel had asked questions to Minister of State Joshi. Also at today’s National Assembly meeting, Minister for Forest and Soil
Conservation Mohammod Aftab Alam said the government has considered developing the
Satanchuli Forestry Park into a tourism and religious site as proposed by Bharatpur
municipality. The present government is determined to preserving rare flora and fauna, the
minister of state said, adding that a policy has been pursued for declaring buffer zone to
mitigate the damage caused by animals in the areas of Royal Chitwan National Parks and
wildlife sanctuaries. Bhim Bahadur Shrestha, also of NC, and MP Rishibabu Pariayar had asked the
questions. Meanwhile, at the meeting of the National Assembly Today, Bhim Bahadur
Shrestha of the Nepali Congress said drew the attention of the Minister of Education and
Sports seeking university status for the Rampur Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences
Institute of Chitwan district. Stating that unless there was skilled manpower in the agriculture sector, its
development was not possible, Mr Shrestha said that necessary physical infrastructure was
available for Rampur Agriculture University. Responding to the call attention, Minister for Education and Sports Amod
Prasad Upadhyaya informed the House that as per the concepts moved ahead by the university
grants commission, the process for the establishment of the university would be initiated
after relevant law is passed. Nepali Congress MPs Ratna Bahadur Biswokarma and Ganga Datta Joshi, seeking
clarification from Minister Upadhyaya, said that it was necessary to establish agriculture
university at Rampur which already has necessary infrastructures. After the Minister’s reply, Dr. Ramman Shrestha and Keshav Lal Shrestha
of the CPN-ML raised point of order and said that as Rampur Agriculture and Forest
Institute had been mentioned in the agenda, in which part of the country was it located. They said that as there was no agriculture and forest institute, on what
basis did the minister furnish reply, and asked what conclusions should be reached by
holding discussions on a matter which did not exist. MP Ramesh Nath Pandey also noted that it was waste of time to hold
discussions on the topic. After that, Mr Shrestha, who had moved the call attention motion, apologised
for the error which should have been agriculture and veterinary sciences. Minister Upadhyaya also said that both the ministry and the Parliament
Secretariat had made the mistake and the minister would be alert so that such error would
not take place in the future. After that, acting secretary of the National Assembly tabled
“Appropriation Bill 2057” which originated at the House of Representatives along
with a message. The National Assembly will meet again at 2 p.m. tomorrow. |
| Send your comments and letters to the
editor at gopa@mos.com.np 1999 © Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. P.O. Box 876, Durbar Marg, Kathmandu, NEPAL. Tel : 977 1 220 773, 243566, Fax: 977 1 225 407. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior permission. No part of the articles which appear in the internet version on THE RISING NEPAL may be reproduced without the permission of Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. For reprinting rights, please write to US. Send us your feedback: CONTACT US ABOUT US HOME ADVERTISE WITH US |
