Despite repeated commitments, various parliamentary committees under the House of Representatives have not been able to finalise pending bills even as winter session is around the corner.

Months before the winter session was summoned, Speaker Devraj Ghimire in October had asked the chairpersons of the House committees to expedite deliberations on the pending bills to get them ready for the winter session. Along with the committee chairs, cross party whips and chief whips had committed to facilitating discussions and endorsements of the bills under consideration.

However, with the new session, which is also called the bill session, just a few days away, the respective committees have failed to live up to their commitments. Only four of the 16 bills under consideration in different parliamentary committees have been endorsed in all these months.

Holding separate meetings with the ruling and opposition party whips and chief whips, Speaker Ghimire reiterated his request for an effective winter session.

“He wants us to play constructive roles in making the winter session effective,” said Mahesh Bartaula, a CPN-UML chief whip. “He also requested the finalisation of bills under consideration in different parliamentary committees.” The winter session of the federal parliament begins Friday.

Bartaula, who also met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, said the latter is as concerned about delays in endorsing pending bills.

“The prime minister is worried about the sluggish endorsement of the bills by the House committees,” said Bartaula. “Some bills have been under consideration for years, and the delay has created hurdles in the effective functioning of the government.”

During the meeting, Oli complained that the government brings bills expecting that they get endorsed in four months, but this is rarely the case. Oli, who also is the UML chairperson, asked Bartaula to play an effective role in endorsing the pending bills.

In parliamentary democracy, the ruling parties are responsible for ensuring that the House functions effectively and has adequate business. Most House committees are chaired by lawmakers from ruling parties. The Finance Committee, the State Affairs Committee and Good Governance Committee, chaired by the ruling party lawmakers, are sitting on around half of the total pending bills.

Not just are the House committees dormant, the government has also registered only two bills since the previous session. Despite Cabinet approval, different ministries have yet to register bills to amend the Nepal Police Act and regulate social media, among others.

A report by the Legislation Management Committee of the National Assembly has found that different ministers still need to prepare 39 bills necessary for the full-fledged implementation of the constitution. Its study report suggests that only 111 of the 151 laws needed to implement the constitution promulgated by the Constituent Assembly in 2015 have so far been enacted.

“Both the government and the Speaker are serious about making the winter session productive. Our party also has decided to endorse as many bills as possible,” said Shyam Ghimire, Nepali Congress chief whip.

Amid preparations by opposition parties to take a tough stance against the ordinances issued by the Oli administration last week, the Speaker has called a meeting of chief whips and whips of major parties for Monday to ensure proper coordination between the ruling and opposition parties when the House session begins.

During their meeting with the Speaker on Sunday, opposition party leaders demanded that he question the government’s intent behind issuing ordinances.

“The government has issued ordinances while bills of similar nature are still under consideration in House committees. This undermines the role of the House,” said Hitraj Pandey, the CPN (Maoist Centre) chief whip.