As the House of Representatives runs out of business, Speaker Devraj Ghimire has asked chairpersons of six parliamentary committees to forward the bills, which are being discussed in their respective panels, to the full House.

The Speaker held a meeting with the six committee heads on Wednesday as a number of bills have been pending in the panels for long while there is none for the full House to deliberate on.

Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat, Ekram Giri said that many of the ten committees under the House of Representatives have failed to forward bills that need to be discussed in the full House.

“There are almost 17 bills that need to be presented to the full House meeting for deliberations,” Giri told the Post. “In today’s discussion with the six chairpersons, the Speaker urged them to expedite the process and forward the bills to the House.”

The chairs of the Finance Committee; the Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Welfare Committee; the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee; the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee; the Infrastructure and Development Committee; and the Education, Health and Technology Committee were present at the meeting with the Speaker.

Four bills are under consideration in each of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee, and the Education, Health and Technology Committee, whereas the Finance Committee has three bills and remaining bills are with other committees.

After discussion in various committees, the bills are produced to the House for endorsement. But there are questions why they are not being forwarded on time.

Chairperson of the Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Welfare Committee, Abdul Khan, argued they were finding it difficult to expedite their work as the full House meetings often collided with the committee meetings.

“Sometimes, committees also need the participation of top leaders while making consensus on many issues, but it is tough to get their time due to time constraints, and eventually committees’ work can’t be expedited as planned,” Khan told the Post. “Therefore, the House and the committees' meetings should be arranged in such a way that won’t disturb each other's businesses.”

Speaker Ghimire has categorically urged the six chairpersons of the committees that have not expedited the bills to be sent to Parliament with urgency, says Ram Hari Khatiwada, chairman of the State Affairs and Good Governance.

During the discussion, the Speaker asked the lawmakers not to make any recommendation breaching their jurisdiction, Khatiwada said.

“As Deputy Speaker Indira Rana has courted controversy for writing to the US Embassy requesting visa interview dates, the Speaker, through the committee chairs, asked all the lawmakers not to make such a mistake in the future,” Khatiwada told the Post.

Deputy Speaker Rana, on February 26 last year, wrote a letter to the US Embassy, requesting early dates for visa interviews for herself and five others. She faced criticism for making recommendations bypassing the Parliament Secretariat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for individuals unrelated to Parliament.