KATHMANDU, July 25: Lawmakers representing the ruling Nepal Communist Party(NCP) and the main opposition Nepali Congress(NC) are at loggerheads over certain provisions in the bill on elderly people under consideration at Parliament’s Women and Social Committee.
Leader of the main opposition Nepali Congress(NC) and lawmaker Devendra Raj Kandel on Thursday has said that elderly people should have a right to bequeath their property to the person they choose.
Speaking at the meeting of the parliament’s Women and Social Committee held on Thursday to discuss the bill on elderly people, Kandel has called for abrogating the existing law that entitles citizens to the properties of their elderly parents arguing that such a law prevents them from standing on their own feet in economic terms.
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He also made a reference to Europe where no such laws exist as entitle citizens to the properties of their elderly parents.
However, speaking at the same meeting, another NC leader and lawmaker Dibya Mani Raj Bhandari said that citizens should have a right to only part of what their elderly parents own-the property inherited from their ancestors.
Bhandari clarified that no such laws should be imposed on elderly people as require them to give their hard-earned property to their children despite their reluctance.
On the occasion, leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party(NCP) and lawmaker Binda Pandey has called for the enactment of a law that gives elderly people a right to bequeath their properties to the person who takes care of them under severe conditions with the permission from the local level.
According to the proposed bill on elderly people, the person who takes care of elderly people under severe conditions for at least three years will be entitled to their properties. NC lawmaker Pandey took exception to this provision in the proposed bill.
