The government has begun preparations to fill vacant posts in constitutional bodies following a decision by the Constitutional Council (CC) Monday. The CC meeting decided to hold a meeting on April 20 and fill all the vacant positions in all constitutional bodies.[break]
A source at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) told Republica that they will collect personal details of possible candidates in consultation with Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal before preparing a list of the candidates to be appointed in the vacant positions.
At present, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Election Commission (EC), Public Service Commission (PSC), Office of Auditor General (OAG) are without chiefs and members.
Altogether nine senior positions are vacant in the constitutional bodies.
The CIAA is without its chief and five commissioners for five years now. Two positions including the chief election commisioner are vacant at the Election Commission. Similarly, the OAG and PSC are without chiefs for the last two years.
Dispute among the main political parties over the sharing of positions in constitutional bodies has remained the main reason for the vacuum.
The Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government named chiefs and members of the bodies but the apex court nullified the recommendation concluding that the decision was not taken following due legal procedure.
The then opposition leader and CC member Pushpa Kamal Dahal had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court (SC) arguing that CC didn´t invite him on time as required by the the Constitutional Council (Functions, Duties, Powers and Procedures) Act-2066. The Act stipulates that all CC members should be informed 48 hours beforehand about the agenda, venue and date of a CC meeting.
The CC comprises the prime minister, the chief justice, the speaker of parliament, the opposition leader and two ministers nominated by the prime minister.
The State Affairs Committee of the parliament has been continuously pressuring the prime minister to call CC meeting and fill the vacant positions at the earliest. The committee had twice asked former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to fill the vacancies and the committee has already asked Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal to fill the positions.
The CC meeting held during former Prime Minister Nepal´s tenure had recommended Babu Ram Acharya as chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Neel Kantha Uprety as chief of the Election Commission, Udaya Nepali Shrestha as chief of the Public Service Commission and Bhanu Acharya as auditor general.
Likewise the CC had recommended Bishweshwar Man Shrestha, Drona Raj Regmee, Him Bahadur Gurung and Munilal Yadav as CIAA commissioners.
The CC recommended Ram Swaroop Sinha, who retired recently as secretary at the Ministry of Education, as member of the Public Service Commission. Likewise, Dr Bhola Shah and Bhushan Shrestha have been recommended as members of the Election Commission.
The source however indicated that all those who were recommended by the former government may not be recommended this time.
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