Committee recommends speaker take action over May 31 House incident

Kathmandu, June 9

A committee formed to investigate the incident that occurred in the House of Representatives on May 31 has concluded that parliamentary decorum was violated and has recommended that the Speaker exercise the special powers vested in the office.

The committee recommended that the Speaker strictly enforce the House of Representatives Regulations in cases where members use offensive or provocative language. It said measures ranging from expunging such remarks from the parliamentary record to expelling members from the House should be implemented rigorously.

According to a press statement issued by the Speaker’s Secretariat, the committee also stressed that lawmakers, the Federal Parliament Secretariat, and the Speaker must take seriously the responsibility of ensuring full compliance with the code of conduct and rules outlined in the House of Representatives Regulations.

The committee further recommended strengthening orientation programs and awareness of the parliamentary code of conduct, enhancing the effectiveness of party leadership and chief whips, improving security and technological management, adopting international best practices, activating the parliamentary conduct monitoring committee, reinforcing the Parliament Secretariat’s human resources and technological capacity, promoting greater internal discipline and accountability within political parties, improving precedent management, CCTV surveillance and record-keeping systems, and making the Business Advisory Committee and administrative support mechanisms more effective.

The investigation committee was formed to examine the May 31 incident and was headed by House of Representatives Secretary Prakash Adhikari. Its members included Babita Mishra, Chief of the Internal Resources and Planning Management Division, and Gopal Sigdel, Chief of the Technology Management Division.