Nepal

Kathmandu, August 5

Former Princess Prerana Rajya Laxmi Devi Singhland case is sub-judice in the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court. This case, which has been adjudicated by the SC twice, raises the question of whether the current structure of the constitutional bench needs to be amended as two justices of the constitutional bench — Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana and senior-most Justice Deepak Kumar Karki — have already expressed their opinion in the same litigation earlier.

Former princess Singh, had on December 21, filed a petition at the constitutional bench, demanding that the apex courtverdict nationalising her 15 ropani and one ana land, also known as Vijayaghar in Chhauni, be declared ultra vires.

Article 137 of the constitution stipulates that there shall be a constitutional bench in the Supreme Court which shall consist of the chief justice and four other justices designated by the chief justice on the recommendation of the Judicial Council.

Lawyers said that relevant laws could be amended to ensure that judges who might have conflict of interest or who had heard particular cases earlier got the chance to recuse themselves from hearing in the constitutional bench.

Senior Advocate Surendra Kumar Mahto said the laws and regulations that governed the process of formation of constitutional bench needed to be amended to change the current structure of the constitutional bench.

The JC can prepare a roster of seven to eight justices of the SC and when cases of conflict of interest arise or when constitutional bench members have already delivered verdict in a case before, then those members of the bench could recuse themselves from hearing in the constitutional bench. &If such arrangement is made, then it can be ensured that there will be five members in the constitutional bench as per the constitutional provision, but there can be different justices if cases of recusal arise,& Mahto said.

Senior Advocate Mithilesh Kumar Singh said the SC regulation could be changed to address the question of conflict of interest and issues related to natural justice.

&Since the constitution stipulates that the CJ should lead the constitutional bench, the CJ can be allowed to head the constitutional bench, but other judges, who could have conflict of interest and who have already given their opinion in a particular case earlier, can be replaced by those justices who are listed as alternative justices for the constitutional bench,& Singh argued.

He said in the Panchayat era, all justices of the Supreme Court used to sit in full bench when the King would issue order to the SC telling it to review settled cases. &The constitution can be amended only by two-thirds majority which may not be easy so the best option will be to change other laws and regulations. JC can prepare a roster of some alternative justices. The CJ can take leave on the hearing day when there will be question for his/her recusal,& Singh argued.

Another constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya also said the best way at this moment, when the constitution may not be easily amended, is to change the constitutional bench regulation to prepare the names of eight justices who could sit on the constitutional bench. &If there is a roster of eight justices, the CJ can pick four other justices from among them if any of other four permanent members of the constitutional bench is on leave or if they need to recuse themselves due to conflict of interest or other such reasons,& he said, adding that if such changes were not made in the regulation, the proceedings of the constitutional bench might be affected.

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Kathmandu, August 5

The month-long obstruction of House of Representatives came to an end today after the ruling and opposition parties agreed to form a seven-member special parliamentary committee to recommend ways to avert disruptions of House meetings in the future.

The House resumed its meeting today after all the parliamentary parties, including ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and opposition Nepali Congress and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, agreed to form Study and Recommendation Parliamentary Special Committee under NCP deputy parliamentary leader Subas Chandra Nembang.

Other members of the committee are: Dev Gurung and Binda Pandey from NCP, Minendra Rijal and Pushpa Bhusal from NC, Laxman Lal Karna from RJP-N and Uma Shankar Argariya from Samajwadi Party-Nepal.

The committee, formed on the basis of a provision in the parliamentary regulation, will hand over its report within 30 days of launching its investigation.

The committee will study problems that led to obstruction of House meetings and recommend ways to prevent such incidents in the future. &The committee will go through the constitution, rules and traditions and recommend ways to prevent House disruptions in the future,& Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara said. The committee will draft a committee operation guideline under the supervision of the speaker before commencing its work.

The House of Representatives had not been able to hold its meetings since July 10 except on July 24 when discussion on devastation caused by floods and landslides was held after the Nepali Congress registered a motion of public importance. The House meetings were obstructed after NC and RJP-N demanded formation of a parliamentary panel to investigative two cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Sarlahi district.

Sarlahi district in-charge of the Netra Bikram Chand-led outfit Kumar Paudel was killed in an alleged encounter with police on June 20. Later, an 11-year-boy died in a pond created by people operating illegal crusher and sand mining businesses. When peaceful demonstrations were held to protest the boymurder, Saroj Narayan Singh was killed in police firing on the East-West Highway on June 30.

Opposition parties had insisted that a panel be formed to investigate these deaths by the House itself stating they were cases of human rights violation but ruling party members argued that existing parliamentary committees should take up these issues.

&The speaker has played a crucial role to end the obstruction of House proceedings,& said NC Whip Pushpa Bhusal. &But the NC wants to make it clear that it won&t support any kind of criminal activity or human rights violation.&

Mahara initially called a meeting of all parliamentary parties at 11:00am to find a common ground to end the House obstruction. But it was postponed till 1:00pm after he could not convince everyone.

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KATHMANDU: Opposition parties the Nepali Congress and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal have agreed to remove house obstruction in todaymeeting of the House of Representatives (HoR).

In the meeting, which saw the participation of lawmakers from various parties, agreement was reached to resume the House without further obstruction and to make it more effective, confirmed Rojnath Pandey, Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat.

The House meeting was halted on July 10. Except for the meeting on July 24, which discussed an urgent motion of public importance related to floods and landslides in the country, they have not been taking place effectively. The meetings were either obstructed by the opposition or postponed with notices issued by the Parliament Secretariat.

Opposition parties had insisted that a panel be formed to investigative two alleged cases of extrajudicial killings in Sarlahi district, citing them to be cases of human rights violation.

No consensus had been reached up until yesterdaymeeting of the HoR. However, todaymeeting not only brought about the agreement but also formed a parliamentary special committee to prevent such obstructions of the House in future.

The committee — formed under the coordination of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leader and former Speaker Subash Chandra Nembang — will give advice based on the countryconstitution and regulations to avoid such disruptions in House proceedings.

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Kathmandu, August 4

The government has decided to make special arrangements for security at health facilities and health workers, including doctors.

A meeting of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population Upendra Yadav, Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa, Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai, high ranking officials of both the ministries, chief of security agencies and other stakeholders recently held at Singha Durbar took a decision to this effect.

As per the decision, the concerned unit of Nepal Police will prepare a list of health facilities under its working area and stay in regular touch with managers, directors and responsible office-bearers of the health facilities.

Home Ministry has already directed all local administrations to coordinate with police in this regard. Health facilities across the country will be under surveillance of police to prevent any untoward incidents.

If any persons or groups try to take law into their hands to damage physical infrastructure of hospital and attack health workers, including doctors, in the course of medical treatment of a person, the hospital administration will alert the police immediately. The local administration will authorise the police to perform their duties for maintaining law and order, and ensuring security of doctors and physical infrastructure of such health facilities.

A copy of decisions released by the Ministry of Health and Population stated that some miscreants resorted to violence in a health facility after the death of a patient while undergoing treatment. The MoHP and subordinate agencies will conduct regular monitoring of health facilities to ensure that they are responsible to the patients and provide services without discrimination.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has issued a circular to all local levels to create safe environment for health facilities across the country.

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