The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee boycotted Tuesday’s meeting

Desk By Karuna

The Public Accounts Committee meeting was canceled by the CPN-UML on Tuesday because they felt the opposition should have the chair.

The UML MPs boycotted a meeting on Tuesday at Singha Durbar because, they claimed, the committee’s chairperson had been chosen by the governing party even a year after the current government was formed. Bharat Kumar Shah, the meeting’s chairman, suggested passing the committee’s annual report. The UML’s Bishal Bhattarai and Gokul Baskota and others, however, advocated for the chairperson to step down and be replaced with a member of the opposition. He argued that the audit committee should be led by the existing chairperson since the opposing parties have a record of doing just that.

By declining to attend the meeting, opposition parties said that they would only take part in the Accounts Committee’s work after the chairman had returned. According to committee secretary Rojnath Pandey, the meeting then approved the committee’s 22nd annual report by a majority vote.

Other lawmakers in the room explained that the procedure for replacing the chairperson was different and advised the opposition members not to bring up such issues in the committee. Bharat Kumar Shah of the Nepali Congress is the committee’s current chairman.

source: Himalayan Tele Voice