President Returns Constitutional Council Ordinance for Third Time

Kathmandu. President Ram Chandra Paudel has returned the ordinance related to the Constitutional Council for the third time. The government led by senior leader of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Balendra (Balen) Shah had sent the bill for approval to the President's Office, Shital Niwas, on April 14. 

However, on Sunday, President Paudel returned the ordinance to the government itself. The same ordinance was recommended for approval by the government led by KP Sharma Oli in June and December of 2082 BS. At that time too, the President had returned the ordinance. 

The President's Office on Sunday returned the ordinance, recalling the past precedent. ‘It is recalled that the bill to amend the Constitutional Council (Work, Duties, Powers and Procedures) Act, 2066, which was submitted for authentication on June 25, 2082, was returned with a message, and the Constitutional Council ordinance received as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on December 2, 2082, was not issued, and the Constitutional Council ordinance recommended as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on April 14, 2083, has been sent back for reconsideration regarding its subject matter’, the President’s Office stated. 

President Paudel had returned the bill passed by both houses of the Federal Parliament for the same reasons he had cited previously. He has now returned it for reconsideration, raising the same issues. 

He had previously maintained the stance that no law should undermine the provision of making decisions by a majority according to the constitution. Now too, the President has returned the ordinance after the government proposed a provision allowing decisions to be made by 3 out of the 6-member Constitutional Council.