Thematic committees of Bagmati Provincial Assembly still vacant

By Rammani Dahal,Hetauda, Apr. 9: Three months have passed since the first session of the second term of Bagmati Provincial Assembly started. However, the thematic committees, which are essential for proper functioning of the assembly, have not been formed yet.

The disagreement leading to dispute between political parties is said to be the main reason behind the delay and uncertainty.

Due to the lack of thematic committees, Bagmati Province government has been unable to be responsible and accountable to the provincial assembly and public. The provincial government is also failing to effectively implement its budget and plans alongside giving responsibility and work to the provincial assembly. 

Also, for the lack of the committees, a provincial government has been able to spend the budget as per its own will. A provincial government's budget expenditure and work is inspected for necessary suggestion and directives by the thematic committees of the assembly, but they are not in existence.

Rule 146 of the Provincial Assembly Regulations, 2017, states that five thematic committees should be formed to monitor and evaluate the work carried out by the provincial government and give necessary instructions or advice.

Political parties have also recommended names for thematic committees in the past. However, the lists always have more names than needed and there is always a lack of coordination between the parties.

There is a provision for five thematic committees in a provincial assembly. The committees provisioned by the regulation are Provincial Affairs Committee, Finance and Development Committee, Public Account Committee, Education, Health and Agriculture Committee, and Industry, Tourism and Environment Committee.

However, the major political parties – Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) – have been demanding the chairmanship of at least two committees each.

Moreover, smaller parties in the province, such as Rastriya Prajatantra Party, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Hamro Nepali Party, are also seeking to chair at least one thematic committee.

Nepali Congress had also played a role to postpone formation of thematic committees until President's election in the centre as the coalition between the major parties were seeing new tides.

But the process has not been initiated even after around a month is about to pass since the President was elected.

Parties not submitting names for recommendation

According to Bagmati Provincial Assembly Secretariat's spokesperson Manoj Kumar Gupta, only two – CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) – of the seven parties in the assembly have submitted the names of recommended members for the committees.

"For the lack of thematic committees, provincial assembly, which is a mini parliament, has been unable to function effectively and efficiently. While there is no strict provision for the formation of the committees, it is a normal practice that they are formed in 15-20 days of the first meeting of the assembly," said Gupta.

Focus only on power sharing

The political parties have been active in power sharing between each other. However, they are not interested in giving a complete shape to the thematic committees. The first five-year term of the assembly had also passed under the similar environment.

If the committees were complete, they would have conducted discussions over related acts, prepare reports on government's work, inspect government projects, analyse the situation of budget, mitigate unnecessary expenses and provide recommendation for effective development.

Bagmati Province Speaker Bhuwan Kumar Pathak had said that the parties would soon come to an agreement and the committees would be formed at the earliest. Three weeks have passed since Speaker Pathak made this statement.

Nepali Congress' Bagmati Province parliamentary leader Bahadur Singh Lama had also made similar statement in the third week of March. Earlier, a special committee was formed to endorse two bills from the assembly as there was no related thematic committee. 

"The committees will be formed only after the provincial government gets its full shape. There will be a package agreement between ministries and thematic committees between the coalition parties," said Ratna Prasad Dhakal, chief whip at the provincial assembly for CPN (Maoist Centre).

Similarly, CPN-UML's chief whip Madhusudhan Paudel said that the committees could only be formed after the provincial government is formed. 

"The delay has caused several losses in the sector of provincial administration and operation. We expect the provincial government to show concerns to solve this issue," said Paudel.