E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, JAN 29 - The Legislature-Parliament has endorsed the bill tabled for the Seventh Amendment to the Interim Constitution with a two-third majority paving the way for the reactivation of “duties and responsibilities” of Parmananda Jha as the country’s vice president.

Jha’s authority as vice president was deactivated last  August through a Supreme Court order that said Jha’s Hindi oath was not in line with the Interim Constitution. Though the court had given him a chance to retake oath in Nepali and keep intact his position, Jha had refused.

Along with the amendment, the House also passed a joint resolution motion directing the government to reactivate the vice president. The motion was tabled only after Madhesi parties with the support of the UCPN (Maoist) rejected the bill, stating that it was without retroactive effect and would not legally reinstate the vice president.

The amendment confirms that “a vice president can take oath in any mother tongue of his/her choice,” however, it is still unclear what the mother tongues are and whether Hindi is one of them and how it could reactivate the post without any retroactive power.

“The passed bill has no retrospective effect,” said Minister for Law Prem Bahadur Singh, stressing that “the government is confident this amendment will end the vice president oath row”. The court’s verdict, he said, has already been implemented with deactivation of the vice president’s authority.

The joint resolution, the parties believe, addresses the worries expressed by Madhesi parties regarding reactivation of the vice president. “The joint resolution is presented here to prevent complications that could arise from the fact that the bill has no retrospective effect,” said Maoist Chief Whip Post Bahadur Bogati. “The interim constitution has no provision for ousting the vice president other than cases of resignation, death and impeachment.”

Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party (NMKP) lawmaker Sunil Prajapati, Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi) lawmaker Sarita Giri, Dalit Janajati Party lawmaker Biswendra Paswan and independent lawmaker Sadrul Miya Haq had registered the amendment on the resolution. They expressed anger against the government for making arrangements to pass the amendment bill and the

joint resolution in a single day. Giri termed the rush arrangements a “parliamentary robbery.”

Before the passage of the amendment bill, the full House passed the joint resolution proposed by the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML by two-third majority. The bill received 499 yea votes against three nay votes from NMKP lawmakers of Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party.

 

Posted on: 2010-01-29 10:22

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.
* Full Name
* Address
* Email Address
* Comment
* Captcha	Get another CAPTCHA code
Note:	Comments containing abusive words or slander shall not be published.