The meeting of the Sub-Committee under the parliamentary State Affairs Committee endorsed its report on the Bill relating to facilities of former office-bearers -2074 on Sunday.

The Bill defines former officer-bearers as former Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Prime Ministers/Chairs of Council of Ministers, Chief Justices, Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly (CA), the Speaker of the Parliament and the Chairperson of the National Assembly, the Upper House of Parliament.

Office-bearers also refers to the former CA members and members of the National Assembly and the House of Representatives, however, they are not entitled to any facilities as per the Bill.

Clause 4 of the Bill states the perk, pay and privileges incorporated in the Bill for the VIPs include Rs 200,000 every month for the former Presidents not having house of their own in the Kathmandu Valley as a house rent while other former office-bearers would receive Rs 75,000 monthly.

Similarly, the former Presidents who would own house in the Kathmandu Valley would be provided one million rupees in lump sum annually for the maintenance of the houses while other former office-bearers would receive Rs 300,000 in lump sum for the same purpose, according to the Bill.

In case of death of former office-bearers receiving the facilities , the families of him/her should return vehicle provided to him/her to the concerned authority within three months, according to a provision in the Bill.

The former CA members, and members of the Legislature-Parliament, Parliament, the House of Representatives and the National Assembly will be provided with free treatment facility at government hospital, according to the clause 7 of the Bill.

The government will provide CA members with a logo reading 'CA member'.

A seven member Sub-Committee was formed under the leadership of Jeevan Bahadur Shahi which had Ishwori Neupane, Rabindra Pratap Shah, Lokmani Dhakal, Bishal Bhattarai, Shyam Prasad Dhakal and Santa Kumar Darai as members.

Earlier, the issue of providing facilities and perks to former lawmakers was discussed at the meeting of the State Affairs Committee (SAC) on September 14.

The Bill will be tabled at the Legislature-Parliament after being passed by the SAC. It will come into effect after the parliament endorses it. RSS