End House Obstruction

Legislature is one of the most important organs of the state. As the body of the elected people’s representatives, parliament is the final authority to formulate laws, annul any prevalent laws and revise the existing laws in order to make them more relevant and effective in dealing with the emerging problems. Irrespective of their affiliation to the political parties, parliamentarians have a significant role to play in making parliament functional. Since parliament is the highest forum for holding debates and discussions on vital issues of national importance and public concerns, every political party representing in it must be responsible for running the House proceedings smoothly. Obstructing parliament sessions on any pretext is not considered a democratic practice. Such an activity not only disrupts the process of law-making but also hampers their timely execution. 

It is appalling that federal as well as provincial legislatures in Nepal have frequently witnessed obstructions. Lawmakers belonging to different political parties are found involved in creating hurdles to the House meetings. The opposition parties are mostly seen disrupting the House of Representatives (HoR) sessions. They appear to be using such steps as a weapon to get their demands met. Owing to the continuous obstructions caused by the main opposition CPN-UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), the Lower House of federal parliament has been deferred since Wednesday. Similarly, the meeting of the National Assembly (NA) also remained postponed for Thursday evening because of their barriers. With Wednesday's obstruction of the HoR, the ordinance in regard to exploitations of common borrowers by loan sharks has stalled. Thousands of borrowers, mostly living in Terai districts, have become the victims of loan sharks for years.    

Since the countries did not have any clear legal provision to tackle the problem of usury, the incumbent government had introduced an ordinance regarding this two months back. The ordinance had to be endorsed by the House of Representatives by Wednesday mid-night. But the House failed to do so because of the constant obstructions created by the opposition parties. They caused barriers to both Houses of federal parliament, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' over his speech related to Pritam Singh, an Indian writer. That dispute led to the obstruction of the approval of the bill on loan sharks. The House obstructions continued even when the Prime Minister denied making such a statement. The bill had proposed a provision of slapping a seven-year jail term and up to Rs. 70,000 on a loan shark if s/he was proved to be guilty. However, the bill on the loan-sharking that is under consideration in parliament remains there. In view of the bill's urgency, the House should get through it based on political consensus. 

More than two months ago, the government also formed an inquiry commission to look into the issues of loan-sharking and deliver justice to the victims. The government took that step in line with the agreement signed with the agitating victims of usury. The commission has been investigating the cases of usury. But it is not possible for the government agencies to take action against the loan sharks in the absence of related legal backup.  However, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, speaking at a programme organised in Chitwan on Thursday, said that the task of dispensing justice to the victims of usury would continue despite the stalling of the ordinance against loan sharks.