LOCAL NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, July 28:The House of Representatives today sent the Bill to amend some Nepal Act-2057 to State Management Committee for clause-wise discussion before tabling at the House again.

The House meeting was stalled Thursday over the Bill after all the opposition lawmakers boycotted the House accusing the ruling Nepali Congress of intending to pass the Bill with little regard for their amendment proposal.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat directed the committee to return the Bill with amendment proposals after Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Mahantha Thakur proposed for the withdrawal of the Bill. The withdrawal proposal and the proposal to send the Bill to the committee were passed by majority voice votes at today’s meeting.

Minister Thakur also tabled a Bill to make the 11th amendment to Muluki Ain (Civil Code) that guarantees women’s equal rights to parental property before marriage.

Lawmakers expressed mixed comments on the Bill that remained in the pigeonhole for a long time and was tabled after the women MPs of both the ruling and the opposition parties pressured the government with the ultimatum to capture the rostrum.

They said that the Bill, as per the Constitution that guarantees equal rights to women, should have found a passage before long and urged the government to pass it as soon as possible.

The provision that the women get parental property only before marriage should be replaced by another one that ensures their permanent property rights at par with their brothers, they said.

Expressing their views on the Bill were Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Subash Nemwang, Prem Bahadur Shahi, Sushila Nepal, Ashta Laxmi Shakya and Suresh Kumar Karki of the Communist Party of Nepal — Unified Marxist-Leninist, Ramesh Lekhak of Nepali Congress, Navaraj Subedi of United People’s Front, Lilamani Pokharel of National People’s Front, Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani of Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Hridayesh Tripathi of Nepal Sadbhawana Party.

Furnishing the lawmakers’ queries, Minister Thakur said that the government is sensitive about the Bill that empowers women with their property rights. "This Bill aims at ending the existing discrimination against women," he said. "No one should be deprived of laws on the basis of class, caste or gender."

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