House committee on impeachment, PAC to get heads in a week

Published On: January 4, 2017 08:50 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Jan 4: Speaker Onsari Gharti has initiated the process to elect heads of two parliamentary committees within a week.

The speaker has instructed the general secretary of the parliament secretariat, Manohar Bhattarai, to publish the election schedule to elect the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Impeachment Recommendation Committee (IRC) of the parliament.

“I have instructed the general secretary to publish the election schedule to accomplish the election within a week,” Gharti told Republica on Tuesday.

General Secretary at the parliament secretariat Manohar Bhattarai said that he will publish the schedule to elect the chairman of the two House committees on Wednesday.
Since the chairman of PAC Janardan Sharma resigned from the post on August 12 after being appointed as a minister, the committee has remained idle for four months in lack of its head. The committee held meeting only on Tuesday under the chairmanship of its eldest member Sarbendra Nath Sukla. The PAC, which is mainly tasked to discuss the annual report of the Auditor General's Office, also oversees the public procurement process and other irregularities in various government offices.

With the ruling CPN (Maoist Center) and main opposition CPN-UML stacking their claim over the chairman of the committee, parties were failing to elect the chairman of the vital parliamentary watchdog. Citing the precedent of allocating the committee head for main opposition party, UML has claimed the post of chairman of the committee. But the Maoist has also claimed the post stating that it was allocated for them as per the power sharing agreement.

Similarly, the 11-member Impeachment Recommendation Committee was yet to elect its chairman since its formation on October 20.

Rule 180 of the parliamentary regulation states that the speaker can instruct the general secretary of the legislature parliament to publish the date for election of the chairman of parliamentary committees.