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Oli prorogues bill session of House without endorsing any bill

File: Nepal's Parliament building oath Parliamentary Hearing Committee House session Parliament session
File: Nepal’s Parliament building

Kathmandu, April 19

The KP Sharma Oli-led government has decided to end the ongoing session of the House of Representatives on Monday.

Oli had dissolved the House on December 20, 2020, when the country was waiting for the session. However, a Supreme Court verdict on February 23 had reinstated it.

Then, the government had called the session to commence on March 7.

A cabinet meeting held this morning made the decision, according to the minister. It is likely that the next session of the House would begin within a month as the constitution requires the government to present the annual budget plan on Jeth 15 (May 29).

Minutes after the cabinet’s decision, President Bidya Devi Bhandari ended the session and informed the decision to Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota.

Conventionally, there are two sessions of Parliament in a year in Nepal. One session is dedicated to endorsing the government’s annual policy and programme and budget plan, and it is known as the budget session. Because the process takes months due to several objections of opposition parties, the session cannot look after other bills. Hence, the other session discusses many bills. Therefore, the second session is also known as the ‘bill session’.

However, the House did not endorse any bill in this session apparently due to the government’s reluctance to give businesses to the House. Instead, of late, Prime Minister Oli is blaming Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota for the delay in putting the controversial Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact signed with the US government to vote.

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