The Constitutional Council recommended the chairpersons of five constitutional commissions on Sunday.

Former secretary Balananda Poudel was nominated the chairman of the  National Natural Resource and Fiscal Commission.

Provincial governments had long been demanding the federal government to appoint the leadership of the commission, citing difficulty in carrying out their activities. The commission determines the detailed basis and modality for the distribution of revenues among  federal, provincial and local governments from the Federal  Consolidated Fund.

The council also nominated former finance secretary Shanta Raj Subedi as the chairman of the National Inclusive Commission and Bijay Kumar Datta as the chairman of the Madhesi Commission.

The name of Bishnu Prasad Chaudhary was forwarded as the chairman of the Tharu Commission and Samim Ansari of the National Muslim Commission.

The Prime Minister’s Office had prepared a roster of applicants before finalising the nominees, who will have to go through parliamentary hearings before they are appointed by the President.

The chairperson nominees for the National Dalit Commission, the Women Commission and the National Indigenous Nationalities Commission remain to be decided.

Meanwhile, Purushottam Nepal was recommended as the deputy chairman of

the National Dalit Commission and Suresh Adhikary as the deputy chairman of the National Inclusive Commission.

The council also recommended the names of Kedar Prasad Paneru, Bhupal Baral, Rudra Singh Tamang and Rup Narayan Bhattarai as the deputy chair of the Muslim Commission, the Madhesi Commission, the National Indigenous Nationalities Commission and the Tharu Commission respectively. 

The council meeting was held in the absence of Sher Bahadur Deuba, the leader of the opposition party, Nepali Congress. Deputy Speaker and council member Shiva Maya Tumbhamphe said the recommendations were made after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli consulted with the opposition leader.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration had assigned six of its joint secretaries with the task of setting up offices and arranging necessary resources for six commissions formed on November 11, 2018.

Suresh Adhikary, the ministry’s spokesperson, said excepting the Tharu and the Madhesi commissions, the offices of all other commissions have already been set up.