King, parties violated constitution: Experts

Constitutional experts blamed the monarch and the political parties who had formed governments at different times for making repeated attacks on the constitution.

They were of the opinion that the current situation was a consequence of repeated violation of the constitution by the monarch and the political parties in the past fifteen years.

Speaking at an interaction in the capital on the eve of the 15th Constitution Day one of the drafters of the 1990 constitution, Nilamber Acharya, accused the King for making the hardest attacks on the constitution while he defended the party-governments' saying those violations were minor and could be treated from within the constitution.

Acharya, however, said that the constitutional values were still alive and would remain alive. “Let’s be clear that the royal institution will not remain if this constitution is thrown away,” he said.

He said that the problems dogging the country could be resolved through the ambit of the present constitution.

Senior advocate Sindhunath Pyakurel labeled the constitution as unsuccessful to address diverse demands of diverse section of the society.

“This constitution has failed to accommodate the demands and desires of the country,” reports quoted Pyakurel as saying.

Former attorney general Sarbhagya Ratna Tuladhar accused the political parties for violating the constitution for their vested interest. “The demand of the reinstatement of House of Representatives is one such example,” he said.

He said that as the protector of the present constitution the King has to be active for the protection of the Constitution in absence of House of Representatives.

Advocate Bhimarjun Acharya said Articles 72 and 127 of the 1990 Constitution which are considered exceptional Articles to be used very sparingly as per the constitutional norms have been widely used during the last 15 years.

While Article 72 about Ordinance has been used some 100 times, 127, about power to remove difficulties has been used over 20 times, he said.

The first violation of the 1990 constitution was done by the then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala by misusing the Article 126 on the issue of the Tanakpur Treaty.

Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was the prime minister who violated the 1990 constitution the most, Acharya said, adding, the best way out of the current constitutional deadlock is to bring out a new constitution. nepalnews.com pb Nov 09 05