The parliamentary committee invited Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal for a meeting at Singhadurbar and asked him to activate the constitutional bodies by appointing chiefs and members. [break]
Several constitutional bodies, including the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Election Commission (EC), Public Service Commission (PSC) and Office of Auditor General have been left without heads and members for a long time.
Responding to the committee´s concern, Khanal said he would fill the vacant positions at the earliest. “I will call a meeting of the Constitutional Council (CC) and expedite the process for appointment,” Khanal assured CA members.
He also informed the committee about past efforts to activate statutory bodies by appointing heads and members.
The erstwhile Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government initiated the process by naming 11 candidates for various posts. However, the decision taken by then meeting of CC was nullified by the Supreme Court citing procedural flaws in the decision-making process.
A full bench of the SC justices comprising Top Bahadur Magar, Tahir Ali Ansari and Krishna Prasad Upadhyay had scrapped the recommendations.
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is also a CC member, had filed a writ petition at the SC, seeking nullification of the decision taken in his absence on April 23, 2010. In his writ petition, Dahal claimed he was not informed in writing about the meeting.
The Constitutional Council (Functions, Duties, Powers and Procedures) Act-2066 stipulates that all CC members should be informed about the agenda, venue and date of a CC meeting 48 hours before the meeting is held.
The CC meeting on April 23 had recommended Babu Ram Acharya for appointment as chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Neel Kantha Uprety as chief of the Election Commission, Udaya Nepali Shrestha as chief of the Public Service Commission and Bhanu Acharya as the auditor general.
Likewise, the CC had recommended Bisheshwar Man Shrestha, Drona Raj Regmee, Him Bahadur Gurung and Munilal Yadav for appointment as CIAA commissioners.
The CC had also recommended Ram Sworup Sinha as member of the Public Service Commission. Likewise, Dr Bhola Shah and Bhushan Shrestha were recommended as members of the Election Commission.
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