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Fussy About Extending Term of Constituent Assembly
By KTM Metro Reporter
May 23, 2012: the day after the government registered a bill on the 13th amendment to the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007 at the parliament secretariat seeking the change in the provision made for the term of Constitution Assembly (CA) for extending its term for three months from May 27, 2012: the last day of its term, Attorney Bal Krishna Neupane, Social Activist Bharat Jangam, and Advocate Raj Kumar Rana filed three separate writ petitions at the Supreme Court of Nepal stating the proposal for extending the term of CA is the contempt of the court as it goes against the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal of November 26, 2011.
On November 26, 2011, the Supreme Court of Nepal hearing on the case filed by Attorney Bal Krishna Neupane and Social Activist Bharat Jangam had ruled that the parliament could extend the term of the CA for six months at maximum for the last time. So, the parliament extended the term of the CA for six months until May 27, 2012.
However, recently, Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal Anup Raj Sharma said that taking up the case of the political nature of the extension of the term of the CA and giving the ruling on it, the Supreme Court of Nepal had made a mistake; so, the parliament could ignore the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal on this case, and extend the term of the CA if necessary.
According to the local media reports, Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula had registered the bill on the 13th amendment to the Interim Constitution. Mr. Sitaula is the General Secretary of the NC. His party boss Sushil Koirala has opposed the extension of the CA that runs out on May 27, 2012.
Leaders of CPN-UML also have opposed the extension of the term of the CA but General Secretary of CPN-UML Ishwor Pokharel has recently joined the Bhattarai government, and has not publicly said anything about the extension of the term of the CA. In fact, the proposal for extension of the term of the CA is the decision of the cabinet of which Mr. Pokharel is the member.
One of the CA members belonging to NC Radheshyam Adhikari quit the office of the member of the CA protesting against the proposal for extending the term of the CA.
At the meeting with the prime minister held yesterday to inform the president about the proposal of the government for extending the term of the CA, President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav urged Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai to honor the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal and respect the people’s aspirations for democratic norms, ‘The Rising Nepal’ of today writes.
"We have agreed to register the bill despite our reservation over the move. We consented to the Prime Minister’s proposal considering the possible dangers that may emerge if we failed to deliver the constitution by May 27 and the CA is dissolved," said NC general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi after the meeting at the office of the Prime Minister in Singha Durbar according to the news posted on ‘The Rising Nepal’ of today.
Returning from India after the consultation with the Indian leaders about the political situation in Nepal, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad on Tuesday went straight from the airport to the residence of Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda and informed him about the government of India was for crafting a new constitution of Nepal building a consensus on this matter among the political parties, ‘The Rising Nepal’ of today writes.
In a statement issued by the Vaidya faction of UCPN-Maoist, the faction has strongly opposed the proposal for extending the term of the CA for three months, and said that there is something fishy going on according to the news posted on nepalnews.com. The faction also said that the proposal for extending the term of the CA was not discussed at the party, and it indicated the failure of the leaders of the major political parties in crafting a new constitution.
Today, Chairman of UCPN-Maoist Prachanda went to the presidential residence to inform President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav about the needs for extending the term of the CA for three months. According to the news posted on nepalnews.com, Chairman Prachanda told the president that the UCPN-Maoist had tried to promulgate a new constitution within the May-27 deadline building a consensus on it among the parties, but such attempts had gone astray; so, the proposal for extending the term of the CA had been the necessity.
