Kathmandu: The policy document of Nepal’s new government will be announced Monday, the first day of the Federal Parliament’s budget session.
This will be the first budget session of the Parliament after Prime Minister Balendra Shah and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) rode to power in March.
A Constitutional provision requires the president to address the joint session of the first meeting of the Parliament after the House of Representatives election and the first session of the Parliament every year.
President Ramchandra Paudel, who is scheduled to address the joint session of Parliament, will announce the policies and programmes of the government Monday as per Article 95 of the Constitution, spokesperson of the Parliament Secretariat Ekram Giri said .
The Parliament meeting will start at 2 pm, and the president will deliver his speech at 4 pm, a notice issued by the Parliament secretariat said.
Earlier last month, citing “special reasons,” President Paudel April 23 suspended the session of both houses of Parliament that was scheduled for April 30, a development that was described by the opposition as “unprecedented and surprising.”
Now, the session starting Monday will be the second parliamentary session the budget session — after the joint session from April 20 to 10, held days after the new dispensation took charge.
The Balen Shah government recommended that the president suspend the session starting April 30, mainly to promulgate important ordinances. One of them was a Constitutional Council ordinance, which was aimed at appointing the new Chief Justice as the position had remained vacant for some time.
The move invited criticism from the opposition parties, who argued that regular sessions of the parliament should be followed instead of a shortcut way to introduce ordinances.
The date for budget presentation is fixed, Jestha 15 each year, according to the Nepali calendar. It falls May 29 this year as per the Gregorian calendar.
As per the schedule, the government will present eight ordinances recently promulgated by the President for endorsement. These ordinances include among others, public procurement ordinance, ordinance related to special arrangements for removal of public position holders, and constitutional council first amendment ordinance.
The ordinances will also be presented to the National Assembly or the Upper House.