State Affairs and Good Governance Committee Forms Subcommittees, Plans Field Monitoring

Kathmandu. The State Affairs and Good Governance Committee under the House of Representatives has made the important decision to form various sub-committees and conduct field monitoring in 6 districts to make its performance more efficient and effective.

The committee meeting held on Thursday extended the deadline for the drafting committee for the meeting operation procedure and proposed sub-committees to monitor the activities of various ministries.

According to Committee Chairman Hari Dhakal, the meeting proposed seven-member various sub-committees to regularly monitor ministries and bodies falling under the committee's jurisdiction and to conduct detailed studies of complaints. Accordingly, Shraddha Kunwar Chhetri has been proposed as the coordinator of the Complaint Study Subcommittee to be formed to study received complaints.

Similarly, Dr. Amaresh Kumar Singh has been proposed as the coordinator of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and Defense Subcommittee to be formed to oversee the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Office and the Ministry of Defense. A Home Subcommittee under the convenorship of Deepakraj Bohara has been proposed to monitor the activities of the Ministry of Home Affairs, while Kamal Subedi has been proposed as the coordinator of the Land Management, Cooperatives and Federal Affairs Subcommittee and Surendra Chaudhary as the coordinator of the Constitutional Bodies Subcommittee. Chairman Dhakal has urged the parties to immediately provide the names of the remaining members to ensure proportional representation of all political parties in parliament in all these sub-committees.

The meeting operation procedure drafting committee was initially given a deadline of one week. However, due to the busy schedule of the members and reasons such as the general conventions of political parties, the work could not be completed within the said period, so the deadline has been extended to 15 days. Chairman Dhakal clarified that the time has been extended to create a mature and systematic procedure.

Despite the heavy workload of the end of the current fiscal year and the budget session, the committee has prioritized its decision to conduct field monitoring of bodies within its jurisdiction. The committee will send separate teams to study the actual situation of the regional offices of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority and prisons in various districts.

Prisons in Dhanusha, Jhumka (Sunsari), Banke, Bardia, Kailali, and Bhimfedi (Makwanpur) and the Authority offices in those respective areas have been selected for monitoring. The meeting has given the chairman full responsibility to form a 7-member team, with a maximum of 5 committee members and 2 staff members in each monitoring team.

During the discussion, some committee members suggested that political balance should be maintained between the ruling and opposition parties in selecting the leadership of the sub-committees. They also expressed the view that the committee should pay special attention to contemporary issues related to the Ministry of Finance to establish good governance in the country. Responding to the queries raised by the MPs, Chairman Dhakal stated that he has taken serious note of the issues raised. He informed that discussions are also being held in other relevant committees of the parliament regarding issues related to the Ministry of Finance.