Parliamentary sub-committee to decide on entry of authority into private sector

After political parties did not reach a common opinion on the proposed provisions of the Act, the State Order and Good Governance Committee formed a sub-committee under the coordination of MP Hridayram Thani.

The sub-committee will work to submit a report to the House of Representatives, said the committee vice-chairman Ramhari Khatiwada. A sub-committee has been formed mainly to study the Anti-Corruption Act. There are other issues in the proposed Act. But only the issue of authority entering the private sector is being discussed," Khatiwada said. "A sub-committee consisting of parliamentarians from all parties has been formed to study all these issues. The first meeting of the sub-committee is being held on Friday.'

The Good Governance Committee formed a sub-committee for further study after there were different opinions about the proposed bill. The members of the sub-committee are MPs Raghuji Pant, Hitraj Pandey, Chanda Karki Bhandari, Wise Tamang, Rajendra Pandey, Sarvendra Nath Shukla, Ashok Kumar Rai, Prakash Adhikari, Sarita Prasain.

The bill to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act, 059, which is under discussion in the committee, has a provision to place the private sector under the authority's jurisdiction. Even when the bill was registered on January 7 and submitted to the National Assembly, experts and the private sector opposed the provision. But without making any changes in this arrangement, the National Assembly passed the bill on 079 Chait 27 and sent it to the House of Representatives. In the

bill, the definition of 'public institution' is trying to include institutions related to the private sector to include the authority. In the Bill, 'public institution' means 'an institution, company, committee, commission, institute, authority, corporation, foundation, board, center, council, bank, wholly or partially owned or controlled by the government of Nepal, state government or local level or established in accordance with prevailing laws. Medical colleges and affiliated hospitals or organized institutions of a similar nature' are included. This means that the authority can investigate the private sector including companies, banks and financial institutions, medical colleges.

Political parties have different views on bringing the private sector under the authority. The private sector has been protesting on this matter. The Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been saying that the matter of bringing the private sector under the authority is discouraging. According to the federation, there are CIB of Nepal Police, Department of Revenue Investigation, Investigation Department of Money Laundering, Rashtra Bank, Medical Council and Insurance Institute to regulate the private sector.

Nepal Chamber of Commerce is also demanding to correct the provisions of the proposed bill to bring the private sector under the authority. The Chamber has already drawn the attention of Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal on this matter. The chamber is of the view that the bill pending in the state administration committee will further weaken the private sector and discourage investment in the state economy.

Chairman Khatiwada himself says that it is impossible to bring the private sector under the authority. It is not possible to bring the private sector under the authority of the chairman and personally. There is a separate agency to monitor the private sector," he said. Moreover, he should not be entrusted with the private sector. I do not agree with going to the private sector. He claims that if the authority monitors the private sector, the investment environment in the country will deteriorate.

Khatiwada says that the authority that has not been able to play an effective intervention role even in the corruption of public bodies should not be allowed to enter the private sector.