Budget allocation to lawmakers challenged in Supreme Court

Published On: June 3, 2019 10:45 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

Petitioners claim the allocation goes against the spirit of federalism

KATHMANDU, June 3: Two writ petitions were filed on Sunday, challenging the budget allocations to lawmakers in the name of financing development activities in their constituencies.

Advocate Parashmani Bhattarai and Dinesh Raj Subedi filed separate writ petitions at the Supreme Court (SC), challenging the allocation of millions of rupees to the lawmakers for the development of all 165 electoral constituencies.

Despite criticism from various quarters, the government has decided to provide Rs 60 million each to the lawmakers elected to the House of Representatives under the First Past the Post (FPTP) system, for the development of their constituencies.

Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada announced an increase in the amount by 50 percent from the existing Rs 40 million for each of the 165 lawmakers while unveiling the annual budget for fiscal year 2019/20 in the federal parliament on May 29. Khatiwada said he has allocated Rs 9.9 billion for the purpose. Stating that the allocation of budget to the lawmakers violates the spirit of federalism and seeks to centralize the power of allocating budget to the lawmakers, the petitioners have argued that this would ultimately weaken the concept of local development. They have sought the apex court's intervention against the distribution of such a huge amount of budget in the name of constituency development fund.

The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Federal Affairs, the House of Representatives and the upper house have been named as defendants in the petitions.

The petitioners have urged the apex court to immediately issue a stay order revoking the budget distribution to the lawmakers, claiming such an intervention by the court would eventually help to strengthen the federal system in the country.

The petitioners have insisted that the budget distribution to the lawmakers vviolates Article 1, 4, 56 and 57 of the Constitution. Registering the petition, the apex court has scheduled an initial hearing on the petitions for Monday.