The Regulation Drafting Committee of Parliament has decided to conduct a vote to resolve the issues, particularly the size of its Hearing Committee, after six months of negotiations failed to find consensus.

The vote will be held on Thursday. The committee led by Radheshyam Adhikari was unable to draft the regulation even though its deadline was extended four times. The Legislature-Parliament has been functioning under an interim regulation since the new constitution was promulgated in September last year.

The 61-member committee, which has a majority of members from three major parties, is divided whether to continue with the 73-member Hearing Committee that existed before constitution promulgation or to reduce its size to 15-member as required by the new charter. The opposition, including the NC and some fringe parties, favours the old size of the committee claiming that the transitional period is not over.

The ruling parties cite Article 296, which authorises the legislature to work in the capacity of Federal Legis-lature until the elections are held, to argue that the Hearing Committee must follow the new provision. The opposition says 15 members cannot represent the 31 parties in the House. As lawmakers from the NC and fringe parties have a majority in the committee, the proposal to continue with the 73-member committee is likely to be endorsed. However, the decision of the committee has to be approved by Parliament where the ruling parties have a majority. “There are chances that Parliament can overturn the decision of the committee,” said CPN-UML lawmaker Rewati Raman Bhandari.

House meeting unlikely soon

KATHMANDU: The new session of Parliament is unlikely to begin soon as both the government and the Parliament Secretariat have not prioritised the issue. Though Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Speaker Onsari Gharti were expected to meet to decide the date last week, there has been no headway. Speaker Gharti left for Bangkok on Monday for follow-up treatment of her husband Barsha Man Pun. A week after her three-day Bangkok visit, a team of parliamentarians is scheduled to visit London to attend a conference organised by the International Parliamentarian Union. “The new session will be called only after her team returns on April 23,” said Dilnath Giri, chief whip of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, who is a member of the delegation.