KATHMANDU, June 24:Soon after endorsing its work procedure on Thursday, Parliamentary Hearings Special Committee (PHSC) has initiated the process for conducting hearings on long-pending recommendations for various constitutional positions.
The PHSC meeting on Thursday decided to solicit complaints from the public on the nominees for various positions, including the chief justice, justices, chief election commissioner and ambassadors. However, the committee has decided to keep the complaints against the recommended individuals secret until the hearings begin.
PHSC hearings next week for 2 envoy nominees
"We will issue public notice soliciting complaints soon. The committee has allocated 10 days for receiving complaints from the members of public," said CPN-UML chief whip Bhanubhakta Dhakal, a member on the PHSC.
However, he informed that the complaints received by the committee will not be made public until the committee conducts hearings.
"The complaints will be kept in sealed envelops. The committee will open them only after the deadline for receiving complaints ends. Only serious complaints will be made public and discussed within the committee," said Dhakal. "This provision will standardize the procedures of the hearings committee. It will discourage the trend of filing anonymous complaints with the intention of defaming the recommended candidates."
In the absence of parliamentary regulations even after the promulgation of new constitution, the PHSC had remained non-functional for the last eight and half months, stalling the discussion on the recommendations made by the Constitutional Council, the Judicial Council and the government.
The Constitutional Council had recommended Ayodhi Prasad Yadav for the position of chief election commissioner on December 8 and Sushila Karki for the position of chief justice on April 10. Likewise, the Judicial Council had recommended seven career judges and four advocates for the vacant 11 positions of justices at the Supreme Court. Similarly, the government in the third week of April had nominated 22 individuals for the position of ambassadors to different countries.
The appointment process of all the recommended nominees could not move ahead during the eight and half months it took the hearing committee to endorse its own regulations with members differing over the size of the PHSC.
