Govt withdraws bill to amend Political Parties Act-2017

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, May 18: The government has decided to withdraw a bill registered in the House of Representatives to amend the Political Parties Act- 2017. 

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) in Singha Durbar on May 16 allowed the Ministry of Home Affairs to withdraw the bill from the Secretariat of the Federal Parliament.

The government had registered the bill in the Federal Parliament Secretariat to implement the previous system of requiring 40-40 per cent members each in the Central Committee and the Parliamentary Party while splitting any political party.  

The then Minister for Home Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha registered the bill at the Secretariat on January 3, 2024.

Ekram Giri, the spokesperson for the Secretariat of the Federal Parliament, said that the government had sent a letter saying that it would withdraw the bill related to the Political Parties (second amendment), 2017, which was pending in the parliament.  

He said that the bill would be withdrawn as per the decision of the government, and the Federal Secretariat was informed about the decision.

With the withdrawal of the bill, the way for the government to register a new bill will open, and if necessary, there will also be a way to bring an ordinance.

There is a legal provision that the government can withdraw the bill at any time. Using the same rights, the government decided to withdraw it on Friday. Earlier, the bill related to the Political Parties was registered in the parliament and was included in the agenda of the parliament meeting, but no discussion on it could be held. 

Similarly, the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday decided to make public the property details of the ministers submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM).

“The property details submitted by the current cabinet ministers to the office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers will be made public,” Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said at a press conference organised to make the Cabinet decisions public on Friday.  

Similarly, the government also decided to approve the Criminal Offenses (Remission) Third Amendment Regulation-2081 on the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The government has allowed HuaXin Cement Narayani Pvt. Ltd. to use 11.8 hectares of national forest area to extract limestones and the minerals of the forest area located in Rorang Rural Municipality of Benighat in Dhading district.

Likewise, the cabinet allowed to use 1.65 hectares of the national forest area of Sirijunga Rural Municipality in Taplejung for the construction of the Kaveli-3 Hydropower project. 

Likewise, the Cabinet meeting endorsed the visit of a three-member delegation team led by Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Yadav to Geneva, Switzerland to take part in the World Health Assembly from May 26 to June 1, and the visit of Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal to Geneva for taking part in the International Labour Summitt to be kicked off from June 9 to 15. 

The Cabinet meeting also decided to allow non-gazetted first-class officer (Nayab Subba) Chiranjeevi Bhusal to take retirement by adding extra seven years of service period. Bhusal is suffering from serious ailment and is unable to attend his office.