Draft laws related to all fundamental rights as envisioned in the constitution have been finalised. They will be forwarded to the Cabinet for approval before being tabled at the federal parliament for endorsement.

Following the directives from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA), the eight ministries concerned have completed reviewing the drafts and sent to former for finalisation. The Law Ministry has the authority to finalise the drafts based on the recommendations from the ministries concerned. The ministries of Education, Health, Women and Children, Urban Development, Home Affairs, Environment, Federal Affairs, and Commence and Industries had been tasked to draft the laws concerning citizens’ fundamental rights.

The constitution enshrines 31 fundamental rights in Articles 16 to 46, requiring 17 new Acts or amendment to the existing ones for their implementation. “We have readied all the necessary drafts which will now be tabled at the Cabinet for approval. They will then will be presented at the federal parliament,” outgoing Law Minister Sher Bahadur Tamang told the media before announcing his resignation.

The Law Ministry had formulated the preliminary drafts of 17 new Acts and amendments to the existing ones in the spirit of the new constitution and sent them to the ministries concerned two months ago. The constitution requires all the Acts related to 31 fundamental rights to be ready by September 19, but not a single draft has been tabled in Parliament yet. These Acts concerning citizens’ fundamental rights should be in place within three years of the promulgation of the constitution and the rest by March 4 next year. The drafts need a Cabinet approval before being forwarded to the federal parliament. They become Acts once get endorsed through the House of Representatives and the National Assembly which will take at least a week for one Act to be in place given all the parties agree on it.

The constitution envisions free basic health and free education up to secondary level, while also guaranteeing the right to basic needs, including employment, which require Acts for their implementation. The constitution needs to go through amendment if the Acts on the fundamental rights are not in place by September 19.