Prez prescribes package deal to unlock deadlock

KATHMANDU, DEC 04 -

President Ram Baran Yadav has urged the government to hammer away at a package deal on clearing constitutional hurdles so as to conduct next Constituent Assembly elections and fulfil the vacant positions in judiciary and constitutional bodies.

He sounded such a clarion call during a meeting with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who went to Sheetal Niwas on Monday to request the President to use his power in accordance with the Article 158 of the Interim Constitution for clearing hurdles in appointing judges. New appointments in constitutional bodies and the Supreme Court have stalled in absence of the parliamentary hearing ever since the CA was dissolved in May.

During the talks, President Yadav called on PM Bhattarai to forge political consensus and a package deal on removing all constitutional obstructions. The Article 158 of the Interim Constitution states that if any difficulty arises in connection with the implementation of the constitution, the President, on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, may issue orders to remove such difficulties and the parliament shall ratify such orders within a month.

According to President’s Press Advisor Rajendra Dahal, the head of state is getting in a sweat about looming understaffing crisis that all constitutional organs, including the Supreme Court (SC) and the Election Commission (EC) are going to face. The President takes a dim view that elections cannot be conducted in April/May without fulfiling the vacant EC posts, according to Dahal.

Considering the gravity of the situation, the President has invited the top leaders of the three major parties and the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha on Tuesday morning to dwell on the issue. “He (President) does not want to address the constitutional hurdles one by one. He wants the parties to reach an agreement on all the outstanding issues in a package,” said Dahal.

Alarm bells have already started ringing as the term of five temporary judges of the apex court is expiring on Wednesday. Following their retirement, the SC will have only seven judges and it will be difficult for the apex body to deal with the logjams of petitions. The Article 155 of the constitution states that any candidate nominated for the SC justice should undergo parliamentary hearing before assuming the post.Though the SC has sounded alarm bells, the major parties are yet to struck a package deal on a national unity government and resolving constitutional deadlock. Monday’s talks among the three parties revolved around ‘all outstanding issues’ sans a breakthrough. In the two-hour-long meeting, the opposition parties reiterated their refusal to compromise without PM Bhattarai’s resignation. The UCPN (M) leadership laid emphasis on transforming the incumbent government into a national unity. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said his party was ready for discussions on an alternative PM candidate provided that the other parties are against making the Bhattarai-led government a consensus one.

Source: The Kathmandu Post