Constitution amendment bill tabled

KATHMANDU, Dec 29: The government has tabled a bill for the seventh amendment of the interim constitution to end the controversy surrounding the oath-taking in Hindi by Paramananda Jha as the vice president. [break]



As per the new amendment proposal, the president and vice president may take oath of office and secrecy in any of the mother tongues spoken in Nepal.

However, the amendment is not retroactive and so doesn´t legalize Jha´s previous oath-taking in Hindi. Jha will have to take a fresh oath to assume office of the vice president.



A year after Jha took oath of office and secrecy in Hindi, the Supreme Court (SC) had nullified his oath last July, sparking a fresh round of controversy. The government had assured the Madhes-based political parties to solve the problem by amending the interim constitution that requires the president and the vice president to compulsorily take oath in Nepali.



“We are for making amendment in the hope that he would take his oath again,” said Minister Singh before tabling the bill.



Note of dissent against the tabling of the bill defeated



The note of dissent registered against the tabling of the bill by Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF) lawmaker JP Gupta was defeated by a majority vote in parliament. “The bill doesn´t solve the problems of the vice president. So I request the government to make it retroactive and table it again,” Gupta told the legislature-parliament on Tuesday.



He argued that the bill allows the president and the vice president to take an oath in any mother tongue, but doesn´t address the root cause of the problem -- Jha´s oath-taking in Hindi.



Gupta also stated that the amendment proposal has flaws as the law does not specify as to which languages are mother tongues and which not. Gupta was of the opinion that the constitution should be amended in such a way that Jha would not have to take his oath again.



Meanwhile, MPRF President Upendra Yadav and Gupta met Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the Maoist party headquarters in Parisdanda on Tuesday and asked the latter to support the MPRF to defeat the amendment bill. The UCPN (Maoist) has stated that it would discuss the issues in the party.



The legislature-parliament on Tuesday also passed a bill making Nepal a party to Bioversity International Convention and allowing Bioversity International, an INGO, to operate in Nepal.

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