The leaders decided to remove the points from the list of disputes in constitution writing agreeing that such issues should be settled by formulating laws instead.[break]
Some lawmakers had earlier registered differing views in the preliminary draft report prepared by the CA´s thematic committee on fundamental rights demanding that the new constitution set a ceiling on land and property owned by any individual and clarify whether or not to provide compensation while confiscating the land above the ceiling.
"The issue of whether or not to set any ceiling on land and property and the compensation to be provided to the owners are to be settled by formulating laws," UML Lawmaker Agni Kharel, also a member of the subcommittee, told Republica. "Therefore the subcommittee meeting decided to remove these points from the list of disputes."
UCPN (Maoist) lawmaker Khimlal Devkota echoed Kharel.
While the political parties have already agreed to ensure right to property as a fundamental right in the new statute, they have said a future government can formulate laws as per the new constitution to set tax rates to be imposed on properties.
Leaders said the current interim constitution, the 1990 constitution and other constitutions in the past didn´t mention such matters.
The leaders at the meeting also decided to incorporate a proviso in the new constitution allowing formulation of laws with retroactive effect on serious crimes. "This clause shall facilitate authorities to punish the guilty by formulating laws with retroactive effect on crimes against humanity, war crimes and on genocide," said the statement issued by the CC secretariat after the meeting.
They also decided to elucidate, in the explanatory notes, the term “genocide” as a crime committed on ethnic, linguistic, religious, cultural or any other similar grounds.
"Criminal laws can´t have retroactive effect and general regular laws don´t cover such crimes. Therefore we decided to allow the new constitution to formulate laws, if and when needed," said Devkota.With the deletion of the four disputed points related to land, property, compensation and war crimes, the dispute resolution subcommittee, which is headed by UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and represented by key leaders from other parties, has reduced the number of disputes from 20 to 16. A meeting of the CC, which is mandated to prepare the integrated draft of the new constitution, will later endorse the decisions taken by the subcommittee.
Except for the issues related to state restructuring, the major thorny issue yet to be resolved is the system of governance. Political parties have not been able to decide whether to adopt a presidential system, Westminster parliamentary model, a mixed model sharing power between the president and the prime minister or any other form of governance.
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