Argument that due to the dignity of the Minister of State, parliamentary functioning could not be effective
Parliamentary committee chairpersons have demanded ministerial dignity and facilities. In the meeting of Speaker Devraj Ghimire, Deputy Speaker Indira Rana, the Joint Committee of the Federal Parliament and the Chairman of the Committee under the House of Representatives, the Parliament Secretariat and the Secretary of the Committee, they demanded that legal arrangements be made in order to maintain the order of ministerial dignity.
According to the order of dignity set by the government, the Chairman of the Committee is the same as the Minister of State.
In the meeting held in Lalitpur on Tuesday, the chairpersons of the committee under the House of Representatives claimed that due to the dignity of the state minister, the parliamentary work could not be done effectively. Chairman of Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee Abdul Khan said that the effectiveness of the parliamentary committee requires the dignity of a minister. His argument was that since the directives given by the
committee are not being implemented by the executive bodies, the status of the chairman should be like that of a minister. "We give instructions to the chairman and the committee, but the one we give instructions to has a higher status. As the instructions given by the lower dignitaries are not followed by the higher ones, we have said that the status of the chairman of the committee should be at least that of a minister,' said Khan. He is an MP of the Janmat Party.
Chairman of the Women and Social Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, Kiran Kumar Sah proposed that the old 'Mantri Niwas' in Pulchok be made the residence of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee by making the dignity of the Speakers equal to that of Ministers. He argued that even though the chairman of the committee will get Rs 25,000 as housing allowance, it is not enough and he should arrange a residence.
We said that we do not need 25,000, the minister's residence is empty, the chairman of the committee will be placed in it, Sah told Kantipur, "The Speaker has assured that we will discuss the situation again after understanding the situation." He is a UML MP. After the construction of a new ministerial residence at Bhainsepati in Lalitpur, the ministerial residence at Pulchok has been converted into the residence of the Supreme Court judge.
The chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Ramhari Khatiwada, argued in the meeting that the Prime Minister and Ministers who are ex-officio members cannot be given instructions by sitting in the dignity of the Minister of State. He had said, "If I become the Chairman of the Committee, don't make the arrangement to be in the dignity of the Minister, but it had to be made after I left." "The Prime Minister and the Minister will feel uncomfortable when a committee like the State Minister is chaired," he said.
Khatiwada said that he made the proposal not to get more facilities but for the dignity of the chairman. He also narrated an example of a minister refusing to come to a meeting called by the chairman of the committee and sending the state minister and when the committee sent the state minister back, there was a dispute. Khatiwada is a Congress MP. The chairman of the
committee also presented the international practice saying that the order should be like that of the minister. They said that in countries like India, UK, Canada etc., the rank of chairpersons of parliamentary committees is the same as that of ministers.
Even in Nepal, in the past, committee chairpersons were given the same dignity as ministers and they said that it should be restored. Whether it is done by creating a law or by making a decision by the Council of Ministers, they emphasized that the dignity of the committee chairpersons should be made like that of the minister.
Industry committee chairman Khan also said that committee members should have the right to wear a 'whip' for attendance. The committee and the chairman do not have the right to whip. If there is no mandatory arrangement for attendance, the committee will not have a quorum,' he said.
Chairman of the Women's Committee Shah demanded that the national flag should be placed in the chairman's residence like a minister to increase the dignity of the parliamentary committee. He also proposed that the Speaker's photo should be placed in the Speaker's office, just like the President's and Prime Minister's photos are kept in the ministry. According to the participants in the discussion, Speaker Devraj Ghimire did not respond to the demands of making the rank of the Parliamentary Committee Chairman like a minister and arranging residence.
The Chairman of the Joint Committee of the Federal Parliament, "The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of State Directive Principles, Policies and Responsibilities", Thakur Gayre informed that the committee chairpersons have raised the problems encountered during the operation in the meeting and Speaker Ghimire has instructed the committee to pass the pending bill quickly.
