Constitution has flopped: Legal experts

Legal experts said the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 failed to meet its goal as leaders were not abiding by it.To mark one year of writing of the Interim Constitution today, legal experts blamed the politicians for the failure of the constitution.

They lamented that not a single programme was organised to mark the Constitution Day .“The rulers have no trust in the constitution, leading to its failure,” former Supreme Court Justice and Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, Laxman Prasad Aryal, said.

According to him, the Constitution was promulgated to arrange for the transitional politics and to hold the CA election.“We saw nothing during its first year, but chaos and deterioration of law and order,” Aryal said while speaking at Reporters’ Club Nepal.

He, however, said if the Seven-Party Alliance succeeded in holding the CA polls on April 10, the constitution will be deemed successful, otherwise not.Aryal added that a republican set-up was established in the country when the king surrendered power in April 2006 after the Jana Andolan-II.

“It is unnecessary to discuss the form and kind of republic,” he added. He said it would be illegal to provide Rs 10 lakh for each lawmaker without promulgating law for the development of their respective constituencies.

Former president of Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, said the statute has failed, as the polls were deferred twice.“The SPA could not hold the election to choose their representatives and has been illegally staying in power,” he said.Thapa asked MPs not to draw their salaries if they respected the state treasury. He said the civil society was doing groundwork to file a case against MPs for spending the state funds.

Advocate Bhimarjun Acharya said the constitution has been violated since the first day of its promulgation. The Interim Constitution has failed as the leaders are not honest,” he added.According to him, the first violation of the constitution was when the ministers did not take the oath of office even after the promulgation of the statute and the last violation was when Matrika Prasad Yadav refused to take oath in the official Nepali language
of Nepal 1990”.

Advocate and Maoist MP Khim Lal Devkota said some politicians were still guided by the “Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal 1990”.