President Yadav worried about delay in constitution drafting, House obstruction

President Ram Baran Yadav called some acclaimed legal professionals at his residence Saturday and expressed concern over the delay in constitution drafting and the ongoing obstruction of the legislative parliament.

President Yadav sought a collective advice from senior legal professionals Bhimarjun Acharya, Tika Ram Bhattarai, Kumar Regmi, Bipin Adhikari, Parshuram Upadhyaya and Dinesh Tripathi, among others, on his role to expedite the constitution drafting process.

The constitution drafting and peace process should be completed within the stipulated time at any cost; it should not be prolonged by imposing a state of emergency or by amending the Interim Constitution, said a lawyer quoting the President.

The President also sought the lawyers' advice on what could be his role within the provisions of the Interim Constitution to expedite the process of writing the new constitution.

President Yadav also expressed concern about the confusion on the post of Vice President and the ongoing obstruction of the legislative parliament preventing budget for this year to be passed.

The lawyers advised President Yadav to discuss the issues in good faith with the leaders of the major political parties.

According to Nagarik daily, the President expressed dissatisfaction over a proposal made by Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) to the Unified CPN (Maoist), which indirectly accepts that the President had taken a wrong move on the army chief case.

I have not taken any decision at my discretion and outside the perimeter of the Interim Constitution; all I had done was to suggest the erstwhile Prime Minister to correct the decision on the recommendation of 18 political parties. I am hurt by NC- UML's proposal which shows me wrong; a lawyer quoted the President as saying.

NC and UML have proposed the Maoists to table a motion at the legislative parliament with the wordings, 'the legislative parliament directs the government to table bill(s) for amendment of statutes to clarify the confusion seen about the President's jurisdiction at times.'