Delays in the promulgation of federal laws have created growing confusion in lawmaking at the other two tiers of government, resulting in overlapping laws, disputes over authority, and delays in implementation, according to a report.

A study by the Legislation Management Committee of the National Assembly suggests that a lack of clarity on the subjects listed under the concurrent powers of the federal, provincial, and local governments is at the heart of the problem. Federal acts set the framework for the other two tiers of government to formulate laws, as the Constitution of Nepal states that any law inconsistent with a federal act is void.

“Delays in the promulgation of several federal acts have led to inconsistencies in laws prepared by the other two tiers of government,” said Tulasha Kumari Dahal, chairperson of the House committee. “In several cases, they have not even promulgated the necessary laws, waiting for federal acts.”

Different studies by the committee have shown that the country still needs to pass 39 bills for full-fledged implementation of the statute. Successive governments have paid little attention to ensuring the necessary legal arrangements for the constitution’s full-fledged implementation. Seven governments led by the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML or the CPN (Maoist Centre) were formed since the promulgation of the constitution in 2015, before Sushila Karki took over following the Gen Z movement.

The country still lacks federal laws governing education, civil service, and police.

The committee, after a similar study last year, had found that only 111 laws among the 151 required to implement the 2015 constitution had been enacted by July 2023. It had pointed out that 40 Acts needed either major amendments or replacement to sync them with the constitution.

The constitution had set two deadlines to prepare laws for its implementation. It mandated the passage of laws related to fundamental rights within three years of the charter’s promulgation. The federal parliament endorsed the bills related to 31 fundamental rights a day before the constitutional deadline of September 19, 2018.

As per the statute, the acts that contradict the constitution must have been revised within a year of the first meeting of the federal parliament on March 5, 2018. Without such timely promulgation, some laws in force date as far back as 1953. Similarly, dozens of acts are from the Panchayat era (1961-1990).

For instance, the Education Act from 1972 and the Infectious Disease Act from 1962 remain in force even today. “Federalism’s promise of decentralised governance has been compromised in the lack of timely promulgation of the necessary laws,” reads a report by the legislation committee endorsed on Thursday.

The report prepared after studying the lawmaking process at local and provincial levels suggests that different provincial and local units have enforced mutually contradictory laws on the same issues.

“This has not just affected governance but also weakened intergovernmental trust,” it says. The study’s findings suggest that policy, structural, and institutional reforms in the legislative are essential to strengthen the federal governance system.

Until federal policies and laws in these areas are clearly defined, provinces and local governments are compelled to operate under defensive and unstable legal practices. Legislative conflicts are evident in areas such as taxation, natural resource use, and personnel management, according to the report.

The study, based on a reading of various local-level legislation, concludes that provincial and local legislatures lack expertise in the lawmaking process. The report notes weaknesses in the quality of the legislative process, adherence to drafting standards, stakeholder consultation, impact assessment, and evaluation of implementation. In particular, post-legislative scrutiny has not been institutionalised at any level, limiting the ability to ensure the effectiveness and practicality of enacted laws, it said

“Local governments, which are closest to citizens in service delivery, have limited legislative and technical capacities,” said Dahal. “We see the necessity of deploying an official with proper legislative knowledge to every local level.” Next week, the report will be tabled in the National Assembly, which will issue necessary directives to the government, she said.