Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Some amendment essential in Interim constitution before promulgation: Aryal

Chairman of the interim constitution drafting committee, Laxman Prasad Aryal has said some amendment should be made in the interim constitution before promulgating it nepalnews reports.
In a video interview with Nepalnews, the former Justice Aryal, who is also one of the framers of the 1990 constitution and who had chaired the committee that first drafted the interim constitution, said that the leaders of political parties changed some provisions in the draft that was submitted by the committee.
"Though this constitution is better than the 1990 constitution, some provisions related with Judiciary, Fundamental Rights, Pardon and Rights delegated to Prime Minister should be amended before it is promulgated," Aryal added. He, however, said that as the constitution is for the interim period only and the country is passing through a difficult phase, the constitution will appear somewhat different than the constitutions to rule the country in normal period.
He expressed dissatisfaction over the provision that authorises the Prime Minister to appoint three members of the Constitutional Council that recommends the names of the chiefs of the constitutional bodies. He also said that there might be negative impact in the Judiciary and the independence of judiciary could be compromised, if Prime Minister is authorised to appoint and transfer the Chief Justice.
He also said that even if the Judiciary is left independent, the provision of the interim constitution will reduce people's faith in judiciary, as it will appear 'controlled.' He also added that the constitution will have been in better format had the political parties finalised political issues first and then only drafted the statute - as a constitution is a combination of politics and laws. "More power has been entrusted to Prime Minister in order to make the decision making process during the transitional period fast and efficient, so, if the Prime Minister realises that he is not just the head of the government and the head of the state, the Prime Minister can't misuse his power," Aryal added.
Commenting on the system of government mentioned in the interim constitution, Aryal said, the constitution has adopted parliamentary system but the responsibility of head of the state has been given to the Prime Minister as per people's aspiration, adding, "People are not in favour of giving any power to the King and there was a need for some person to carry out the works hitherto carried out by the King - so such responsibilities were given to Prime Minister."
Aryal further said that there should not be any delay in issuing the interim constitution as any delay may push back the elections of the constituent assembly and the process of making new Nepal

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