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Extending Term Of Constituent Assembly For Three Months
By KTM Metro Reporter
May 22, 2012: according to the local media reports, amending the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007, the coalition government has decided to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly for three months that is going to run out on May 27, 2012.
The CA needs to promulgate a new constitution on or before May 27 but the possibility of promulgating a new constitution on or before May 27 has been almost nil. The right thing to do now is to extend the term of the CA but it goes against the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal on extending the term of the CA any more.
The major political parties: UCPN-Maoist, NC, CPN-UML and UDMF have agreed on extending the term of the CA for three months at the meeting held on Tuesday evening believing that promulgation of a new constitution is not possible within the deadline of May 27, as the fiery discussion on number and names of provinces has been ongoing.
Deputy Prime Minister holding the portfolio of Minister for Law, Justice, Constituent Assembly and Federal Affairs Krishna Prasad Sitaula has registered the Bill on the 13th amendment to the Interim constitution of Nepal of 2007 at the House on behalf of the government. Deputy Prime Minister Sitaula is the General Secretary of the NC. He had played a role of a bridge between the Government of Nepal and the Maoists in reaching a deal on comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006 ending the 10-year old war.
Another Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha has said that the political leaders will continue to work on building a consensus on contested issues of a new constitution and prepare to promulgate a new constitution by May 27, if possible, then the government will take back the bill on the 13th Amendment to the Interim Constitution registered at the House according to the news posted on the website of ‘The Himalayan Times’ of today.
"Even if we resolve all the contentious issues by Wednesday, we will not be able to finalize the constitution writing in the remaining time," Deputy Prime Minister and Vice-chairman of the UCPN-Maoist Narayan Kaji Shrestha told ‘Republica’ when asked why the parties have sought yet another CA extension despite the apex court ruling, according to the news posted on myrepunlica.com.
The Supreme Court of Nepal in November 2011 had ruled that the parliament could extend the term of the CA for six months at the maximum for the last time. Accordingly, the parliament had extended the term of the CA for six months until May 27, 2012.
For the common folks like us, extending the term of the CA means going against the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal but Former Chief Justice of Nepal Anup Raj Sharma a few days ago had publicly said that stepping on the case of the political nature of extending the term of the CA, the Supreme Court of Nepal had made a mistake; so, the parliament could ignore the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal on this matter and extend the term of the CA if necessary.
"Technically speaking, drafting of the constitution in the remaining days is not possible even if the parties resolve all the issues," Nilambar Acharya, chairman of the CA Constitutional Committee told ‘Republica’ before the parties decided to seek the extension of the term of the CA according to the news posted on myrepublica.com.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai made a visit to the presidential residence to inform President Ram Baran Yadav on Tuesday evening about the decision of the government on extending the term of the CA.
