At a press meet organized by the Constitutional Lawyers´ Forum on Monday, its chairman Tika Ram Bhattarai said that the new constitution should be promulgated within the stipulated time even if this means leaving the contentious issues to be taken up by an experts´ body.
"Constitution promulgation should not be delayed due to differences among the political parties over state restructuring and delineation of the provinces," Bhattarai said.
He argued that provisions relating to state restructuring and border delineation can be incorporated in the constitution through an amendment after a committee of experts finalizes the dispute over such issues in a manner acceptable to all."
The Forum objected to the proposal of the CA committee to determine the provinces on the basis of ethnicity. They also suggested to the government to first complete the integration process for Maoist combatants and promulgate the constitution.
Another noted constitution lawyer, Dr Bhimarjun Acharya, said that the CA term should not be extended under any pretext as the task of constitution writing is impossible during a period of emergency. The CA´s term could only be extended after declaring a state of emergency in the country.
Other constitutional lawyers including Madhav Basnet and Chandra Kanta Gywali said that the constitution cannot be written in an emergency period because fundamental rights would be suspended during such a time.
The constitutional lawyers insisted that the new constitution must be promulgated by the May 28 deadline as there is no alternative left.
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