Following the delay by different ministries in ascertaining the laws that contradict the spirit of the constitution, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has informed them to review the existing Acts and report it by Wednesday.

The ministry issued the deadline following reluctance of 22 ministries, including Prime Minister’s Office, in indentifying the laws that are not in line with the statute and therefore need revision. According to Article 304 of the constitution, any law that is inconsistent with it will be invalid to the extent of such inconsistency one year after the first meeting of the federal parliament.

In order to avoid the situation of laws being void, they either need to be replaced or amended in line with the constitution that came into effect three years ago. As the first meeting of the federal parliament, which was elected as per the new statute, was held on March 5, the final deadline for revision of all the laws ends on March 4 next year.

There are 339 Acts related to different ministries that came into effect before the promulgation of the new constitution and need to be reviewed to ascertain if they are consistent with the constitution. “We have asked all the ministries to revise the laws and report us by Wednesday,” Hum Bahadur KC deputy spokesperson at Law Ministry told the Post.

He said the ministry, after report from the respective ministries, will analyse whether the laws could be made in line with the statute through amendment or new laws need to be drafted to replace them. Following the analyses the concerned ministries will be advised for the further step. “We want to give ample time to federal parliament for the deliberations,” he said.

Last month, 17 Acts related to the fundamental rights of the citizen had to be endorsed by Parliament without proper discussions among the lawmakers and consultations with the stakeholders, owing to the delay on part of the government to draft them on time.

The winter session of the federal parliament is likely to start after two weeks. However, delay in tabling the laws that need to be revised might push the resumption date of the session. It takes at least two weeks to get an Act endorsed from both the Houses. Every Act needs approval from the HoR and National Assembly before coming into effect after the President’s authentication.