KATHMANDU, Oct 12: With the dissolution of the House of Representatives, several important bills presently in the National Assembly have become inactive as well as stalled. Of the 51 bills registered in the National Assembly, 26 have been passed and six have been withdrawn. A new House of Representatives is needed to move the remaining bills forward in the National Assembly. Bills which have been sent to the House of Representatives and returned are inactive, so new bills have to be registered and moved forward.
There are five bills that are pending in the House of Representatives: Media Council Bill 2075, Policy Research Foundation Bill 2076, Nepal Special Service Bill 2076, Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Bill 2076, and Nepal Air Service Authority Bill 2076.
Among these, the Media Council Bill became controversial. The bill provides that the Media Council could impose fines ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 million on journalists whose news or information seriously affects dignity or reputation. After protests against it emerged, the system of penalties, punishments and fines was removed. And instead, the Council was entrusted with the responsibility to facilitate reconciliation between the mass media and the complainant.
Bills stalled in parliament being moved forward
Since 2009, the international civil organization has suggested separating service-providing and regulation. For that, the government registered the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Bill 2076 and the Nepal Air Service Authority Bill in parliament. Since 2013, Nepal's aviation sector has been blacklisted by the European Union (EU).
As proposed by the bill, if the civil aviation authority had been separated into a service-providing body and a regulatory body, there would have been reforms in this sector, but these two bills have become inactive with the expiry of the term of the House of Representatives. So, they can only be carried forward after the election of a new parliament.
Bills under consideration in the National Assembly should be passed and sent to the House of Representatives, but since there is no House of Representatives at present, these bills will be stalled in the National Assembly. Radheshyam Adhikari, a former member of the National Assembly, has been saying that even if there is no House of Representatives, the bill should be sent to the President's Office for verification by the National Assembly.
There are 10 bills stalled in the National Assembly including the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (Third) Amendment Bill, Corruption Prevention (First Amendment) Bill 2076, Immigration Bill 2076, Monitoring and Evaluation Bill, Copyright (First Amendment) Bill 2076, Electricity Bill 2077, Food Sanitation and Quality Bill 2077, Public Service Broadcasting Bill 2077, Archive Protection (First Amendment) Bill 2077, and Security Printing Bill 2077.
Five bills in the National Assembly are inactive while 10 bills are pending.
