Frequent quorum issues in Finance Committee, meeting limited to arguments

Kathmandu, December 16 — In the meeting of the Parliamentary Finance Committee called for Monday, the agenda was to discuss the amendments to the "Secured Transactions Act 2006." The meeting was scheduled for 11 AM as per the pre-arranged program.

However, by 11:15 AM, only Surya Bahadur Thapa and Ran Kumari Balam Paki Magar were present. The Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dinesh Ghimire, along with the Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Law, had also arrived. After waiting for a while, the number of MPs present reached 9.

From the ruling party, MPs Thapa and Magar were present, along with Padam Giri. From the Nepali Congress, MPs Anjali Shrestha, Chairman Santosh Chalise, and from the CPN-Maoist Center, Narayani Sharma, Ganga Karki, Tsering Damdul Lama, and from the Rashtriya Swatantra Party, Biraj Bhakta Shrestha attended.

The committee has a total of 23 members, and to conduct the meeting, at least 12 members are required to be present for a majority. If the majority is not reached, the meeting has to wait for half an hour. After nearly one hour, despite not having a quorum, the committee chairman, Chalise, tried to continue the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, he informed that the Finance Minister was supposed to attend but could not. The Finance Minister had been invited to provide information about the bill’s conceptual framework and other relevant issues. In the absence of the minister, Chairman Chalise asked Revenue Secretary Dinesh Ghimire to provide information.

However, MP Ganga Karki opposed holding the meeting without the required quorum. "Chairman, how can we hold the meeting without a majority?" Karki questioned.

In response, the chairman said, "Let's wait, we will have 12 soon. We are almost there. One person left, and another is on the way."

By the time the meeting proceeded, Chairman Chalise confirmed the presence of nine members. "One person had to leave, and another is on the way. He will sign when he arrives," the chairman added.

Karki insisted, "There should be 12 for a majority." "What I am saying is that we should not hold a meeting without the quorum. There is significant absenteeism from the ruling party members. How can we do this?" Karki added.

"We will sit until we get 12," the chairman responded.

The discussion continued amidst confusion. Eventually, Chairman Chalise stated, "If all the members are saying it won't work, then why should I continue the meeting?"

Amid the confusion, MP Surya Bahadur Thapa also urged the meeting to be held according to the procedure. "According to our procedure, we were supposed to wait for half an hour. We waited for an hour. It is clearly mentioned in the procedure that if we do not have a quorum, the meeting should not proceed," MP Thapa said. "If the members do not arrive at the scheduled time, the amendment committee should take note of it," he added.

The meeting of the Parliamentary Finance Committee was then adjourned, and the discussion on the bill could not proceed. The next meeting of the committee has been rescheduled for 11 AM on Tuesday.

On December 12, the committee had planned to discuss the status of revenue collection, the policy issues faced by customs offices, and bills under review. However, only 11 members attended that meeting. The meeting was conducted after 12 members, including the chairman, attended.

During that meeting, Chairman Chalise repeatedly complained about the lack of quorum. He expressed dissatisfaction that discussions on five bills could not take place due to the low attendance of MPs.

"When the Speaker asked all committee chairs about the reasons for not holding discussions, the common complaint was that the quorum was not reached. Even today, we are holding the meeting despite the lack of quorum," he told journalists.

"We need to highlight the issue of the quorum problem, as it affects the functioning of committees," he added.