National
Ministries get a week to do up fundamental rights laws
The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has given the ministries concerned seven days to present all the drafts of Acts related to fundamental rights to the Cabinet for endorsement.Binod Ghimire
The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has given the ministries concerned seven days to present all the drafts of Acts related to fundamental rights to the Cabinet for endorsement.
Concerned with the failure of eight ministries, the Law Ministry on Wednesday called a meeting of secretaries to press them to finalise the drafts. 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 so far.
The Law Ministry had formulated the preliminary drafts of 17 new Acts and amendments to the existing ones in line with the spirit of the new constitution and sent them to the concerned ministries two months ago. The ministries, supposed to return the drafts to the Law Ministry by making necessary changes latest by Monday, had failed in the task. With not a single draft coming back, the Law Ministry has pressed for expediting works so that they could be tabled in the Cabinet on July 24 for endorsement.
The ministries of Education, Health, Women and Children, Urban Development, Home Affairs, Environment, Federal Affairs and Commence and Industries are responsible for formulating the drafts to uphold citizens’ fundamental rights. They will now have to forward the drafts of 17 Acts to the Law Ministry within two days for final review. “Law Minister Sher Bahadur Tamang has strictly asked the secretaries to follow the deadline,” Law Ministry Spokesman Ramesh Dhakal told the Post.
The draft laws can be tabled in Parliament for endorsement only after Cabinet approval. On an average, it takes at least a week to endorse an Act given that all the parties give their consent.
The statute enshrines 31 fundamental rights in Articles 16 to 46. For the implementation of the provisions, 17 new Acts or amendment to the existing ones are required. There is a constitutional deadline to have all these Acts in place within three years of the charter’s promulgation on September 20, 2015.