KATHMANDU, Sept 20: A month before the expiry of its term, parliament has expedited endorsing the bills pending there for a long time.

With many urgent bills, including the bill on election of president and vice president and election to the National Assembly yet to be endorsed, the House meeting endorsed seven pending bills on Tuesday alone. 

Two consecutive House meetings on Tuesday alone endorsed the Local Governance Bill, Civil Code Bill, Bill Related to Provision of Perks and Incentives of the President and Vice President, National Cooperative  Bill, Tharu Commission and Muslim Committee Bills, Education (9th amendment) Bill and Some Nepal Laws Amendment Bill. 

The two House meetings continued for five hours starting from 3 pm and ending at 8:30. There was a gap of 15 minutes between the first and second meeting of the House. 

Likewise the House meeting on Tuesday forwarded the Civil Code and Civil Procedure Bill to the bills committee of parliament for further revision. Two other new bills including Disaster Management Bill and National Assembly Election Bill were tabled in the House meeting on Tuesday for parliamentary proceedings. 

Parliamentary committees have also expedited giving final touch to the under-discussion bills in the respective committees ahead of the major festivals. The State Affairs Committee (SAC) is scheduled to endorse the Torture Related Bill and Disaster Management Bill on Wednesday.

With the announcement of the elections to the federal and provincial parliaments, the term of the existing parliament is expiring on October 21 due to constitutional provision. The next House meeting has been scheduled for September 25 as Speaker Onsari Gharti is set to embark on a visit to China on Wednesday. 

As many as four dozen other bills are still pending at parliament for months and years. Some bills could not be endorsed in the previous meetings due to the lack of quorum. The House meeting on Tuesday also witnessed a low presence of lawmakers as most of the lawmakers representing Province-2 are yet to return from their home districts after the election campaign. Likewise, over a dozen lawmakers are on foreign trips.