Nepal Parliament Endorses Ordinances, Land Bill Stalled

Kathmandu, Mar 5 (PTI) The House of Representatives on Wednesday endorsed five ordinances tabled by the government, which did not push for land related enactment after two of its coalition partners opposed some of its provisions.

The ordinances related to good governance, financial procedure, privatisation, investment promotion and cooperatives were endorsed by the House.

President Ram Chandra Paudel had issued four ordinances on good governance, financial procedures, privatisation, and financial procedures on January 13; the land-related ordinance was issued on January 15, and the cooperative-related ordinance was brought on January 27.

However, as the Madhes-based parties had opposed some of the provisions of the land-related ordinance, the coalition partners had agreed not to push it forward. The government, therefore, did not present it in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

“The ordinance related to land is against the interest of the people and the country. It benefits land mafia as it has provision to distribute public land and protected land without properly identifying landless settlers, thereby serving the vested interest groups.

“It does not serve the interest of the real landless settlers as claimed by the government and it contributes to environmental degradation,” said Raj Kishor Yadav, vice-chairman of Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal and a Member of Parliament.

Earlier on Tuesday, following Parliament's Business Advisory Committee meeting, Shyam Ghimire, the Nepali Congress chief whip said, “All the ordinances except one will be put to vote on Wednesday.”

“The decision on the land-related ordinance will be taken after further discussions between the parties in the ruling alliance,” The Kathmandu Post said quoting Ghimire.

Prior to that, a meeting of the ruling coalition on Sunday evening had decided to put the ordinance on hold. “The coalition concluded that further discussions were needed on the ordinance to amend the Land Act following reservations from the JSP-Nepal and the LSP on some of its provisions,” The Kathmandu Post quoted Bishnu Rimal, chief advisor to the prime minister, as saying.

The fate of the land-related ordinance had become uncertain in February when the two of the coalition parties – the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal (JSP-Nepal) and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) – had opposed it claiming that it “favours the land mafia,” and declared that they will not support the government in either house of parliament.

JSP' Yadav had then said that his party would not support the land-related ordinance, as it undermines the rights of the landless people of the Terai regions, the southern plains of Nepal.

The party described the ordinance as being “in favour of land mafia” and claimed, “it would not benefit genuine landless people, but rather serve the interests of land brokers.”

JSP has a decisive role in the National Assembly (Upper House) as currently, the ruling coalition's strength in the NA stands at 27 seats, while the opposition parties have 26 seats. Therefore, JSP-Nepal's three votes could be the deciding factor.

There are in total 59 seats in the Upper House; 30 votes are required to endorse any ordinance with a majority vote.

The ordinances need to get endorsement from the National Assembly or the Upper House, before they are replaced by bills.

If the government fails to pass any of the six ordinances currently under discussion in the Parliament, the coalition may face a crisis.