A cabinet meeting earlier in the day had decided to register the bill as per the decision of the top political leaders at the meeting of dispute resolution subcommittee -- headed by UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal -- under the Constitutional Committee (CC). The seven-point peace deal among the major political parties on November 1 had prepared grounds for this development.[break]
Though leaders from the major political parties had reached an understanding to this effect a couple of weeks ago, they couldn’t implement it as the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) insisted that such a panel be formed only after first settling the contentious issues of the peace process.
“I have hereby submitted this amendment with a view to implementing the agreement among the political parties reached on November 1, 2011 on immediate formation of an expert panel to offer suggestions on state restructuring whereas Article 138 (2) of the interim constitution has provided for a high level commission to make suggestions on state restructuring,” read the amendment bill registered in parliament by Minister for Law and Justice Brijesh Kumar Gupta.
The expert panel will recommend state restructuring model, number of provinces and other key features of the proposed federal system.
“The formation, functions, duties, powers and conditions of service of such a commission shall be as determined by the government of Nepal,” reads article 138 (2) of the Interim Constitution. But this time around, the political parties have agreed to constitute a panel of experts through the Constituent Assembly (CA). Leaders said, as per the proposed provision, experts from outside the 601-seat CA can also be members of the panel.
“The dispute resolution subcommittee will forward this proposal to the full CC meeting on Saturday and the meeting will endorse the proposal,” said CC member Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani, who was present at the dispute resolution subcommittee meeting.
The political parties had failed to constitute the high level commission on state restructuring owing to stiff opposition from the Madhes-based political parties and the reluctance of Maoist leaders.
Mainly NC had long been insisting on the formation of the commission. The erstwhile government led by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had appointed Dr Ganesh Man Gurung as head of the high level commission but the body never came into force as no other member was appointed due to differences among the major political parties.
While NC was firmly against delineating provinces in line with the 14-province model proposed by the CA’s thematic committee on state restructuring, Madhes-based parties and the Maoists were against forming the commission. Then, the leaders, as a middle way solution, came up with the idea of entrusting an expert panel with the responsibility of providing suggestions for the purpose.
Panel to study pros and cons of political systems
Meanwhile, the dispute resolution subcommittee also decided to entrust a team of subcommittee members with the responsibility of studying various political models -- presidential, prime ministerial, Westminster, French or any other relevant models -- and listing the pros and cons of the systems in Nepal’s context.
Laxman Lal Karna, Agni Kharel, Radheshyam Adhikari, Khimlal Devkota and Kalpana Rana are in the team. The lawmakers will also study and analyze various electoral models and submit their findings to the subcommittee. “Based on that, the leaders in the subcommittee will recommend a model for the new constitution,” said Lohani.
The issues of finding an appropriate federal model, system of governance and electoral model are the three thorniest issues in the constitution writing process. Once the three stumbling blocks are removed, the statute drafting process is certain to gather momentum.
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