Parliamentary Committee functioning hindered GoN in slumber: Laxman Lal Karna

Reporters Club Event: Senior Leader of the Rashtriya Janata Party Laxman Lal Karna and the President of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee laid emphasis on the importance of resuming the work of the Parliament that has disrupted the work of all the committees.

Speaking in a special interaction program at the Reporters Club last week he said “The various committees in the parliament have not been able to carry out their duties. The main reason being the constitution states the Deputy Speaker can summon the house in case of the absence of the Speaker, but the power is limited to that and nothing more”.

“Why do we have a Deputy Speaker is because, in the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy should be able to discharge all related duties of the Speaker of the House. We have a Presidential system, wherein the case of the absence of the President the Vice-President should be able to discharge duties on behalf of the President. There are numerous loopholes in the constitution that do not allow discharge of active duties required to run the various committees and organs of the Parliament”.

“We have not been able to amend the constitution safeguarding the rights of the various minority communities, Madhesi and Jaanajaati’s, it has become necessary for the Speaker of the house to be present and a compulsion due to which committees have become defunct”.

“The plight of the nation today can be resolved only through the functioning of the Parliament. They have to summon the house and select a Speaker of the House, we have to call a convention or whatever is required by the Government of Nepal (GoN) but it has not taken any concrete action”.

“It takes 51% to select a Speaker, so the House of Representatives (HoR) can decide to hold internal discussions and move forward to decide and elect a new Speaker of the House. This is a necessity as all the work of committees has stopped functioning”.

“We have always been clear on the border dispute. There is no reason to be agitated within the country that will not resolve the issue. We need strong diplomatic efforts. Where is the GoN sleeping? We have to initiate dialogue, present evidence and secure our lands. We cannot delay this, and it seems that the GoN has not been actively involved to resolve the issue”.

“I have seen in social media that former PM Madhav Nepal has been appointed as the representative, but when is he going to go or not but that should be known by the GoN. Why is there a delay, there should not be any delay in critical issues like this” he said.