The meeting of the House of Representative has been postponed for a week after the government rolled out a host of measures aimed at controlling a possible outbreak of the Covid-19 disease.

The Business Advisory Committee decided to put off the session for a week as members were against having dozens of lawmakers under one roof during a potential outbreak after the government’s request to refrain from organising a gathering of more than 25 people.

“The Lower House will not convene until March 26,” Gopal Nath Yogi, acting general secretary of the federal parliament, told the Post. The meeting of the House was scheduled for Friday.

Though the National Assembly hasn’t taken a decision over deferring its meeting, lawmakers say, it is likely that the Upper House will follow in the footsteps of the Lower House on Friday.

Prakash Pantha, a member of the assembly, said lawmakers have already been told that the parliament secretariat will postpone the meeting through a public notice on Friday. Lawmakers were allowed into the Upper House meeting on Wednesday after their temperature was taken.

Yogi said the meeting was postponed only for a week as authorities expect that the government will prorogue the winter session within a week. The president, on the recommendation of the government, prorogues House sessions.

“Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe, present in the meeting of the advisory committee, will take up the agenda on ending the ongoing session,” he said.

On Monday, Tumbahamphe told the Post that the winter session cannot go beyond the end of this month.

Last year, the winter session had concluded on March 23. Yogi said it was time to end the bill session regardless of the coronavirus threat.

Normally, a new session of Parliament begins after one month of hiatus. Last year, the budget session started on April 29, a month before the fiscal budget was presented. According to the constitution, the government must present its budget on May 29.

The ongoing bill session, which started on December 20, is going to be the most unproductive session of Parliament. As of now, only two bills—the bill to amend the Revenue Leakage (Investigation and Control) Act, and the Industrial Enterprise Development Bill—have been endorsed.

The chances of any additional bills getting through during the ongoing session look slim. Around a dozen bills related to the authority of the three tiers of government remain pending from the second and third

sessions.

The Citizenship Act and a bill related to the Civil Service—two key bills that should have been endorsed by the ongoing session are both pending at the State Affairs Committee.

Hundreds of people have been barred from acquiring citizenship because the Citizenship Act has yet to be amended. Similarly, provincial governments have not been able to hire staff in absence of the civil service law.