Govt may table CA extension bill on May 22

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, May 17: The government is planning to table the bill on extending the term of the Constituent Assembly (CA), which is expiring on May 28, at a parliamentary meeting on May 22.

The government on May 13 registered the bill at the parliament secretariat, proposing to renew the extended CA term by another year. The article of the Interim Constitution that set the May 28 extended deadline for promulgating the new constitution needs to be amended by a two-thirds majority if the CA term is to be renewed again.

"We are planning to table the bill at the parliament meeting scheduled for May 22," Bhim Prasad Acharya, chief whip of the ruling CPN-UML, told Republica.

Leaders familiar with Speaker Subas Nembang´s consultations with the chief whips and other leaders of the major political parties said the speaker´s plan is also to table the bill on that day.

Sources said that if everything goes as planned, the bill will be passed or rejected by May 26.

"But for that, there should be an understanding at least among the major political parties to take the procedure ahead smoothly," the parliament source said.

The opposition parties may give a hard time to the government in mustering a two-thirds majority for endorsing the bill to amend the constitution because major opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) and other opposition parties have already announced that they would not vote in favor of the government bill without some tangible progress in the peace process.

If any lawmaker registers a notice of protest against the bill, that needs to be tabled for decision at the meeting. The notice of protest should be rejected by a majority of parliament prior to tabling the bill at the meeting.

Sources at the parliament secretariat said if the bill is tabled on May 22, there will be a theoretical discussion on it the same day. After that, parliament will allow three-days (72 hours) for any amendment to the bill.

"On May 26, there will be clause by clause discussion of the bill and it will then be tabled for voting," the sources said.

But, based on past experience, officials at the parliament secretariat doubt the government will be able to take the proceess to a logical conclusion by May 26.

"Last year also the government planned the same thing but failed," said the official. Last year, failing to reach an understanding among the ruling and major opposition parties, a bill was tabled at midnight on May 28.

"All the procedures concerning deliberations were skipped by suspending the related clauses of parliamentary regulations and the bill to extend the CA term was hastily endorsed within half-an-hour at midnight," the official said. "Therefore, I am little optimistic that the leaders will be able to pass the bill by May 26 as planned."