2014-03-17,Kathmandu: In an effort to give priority to some pressing issues of governance, environment and human rights, the parliament will have some additional committees.

The parliament rules of procedure tabled in House for endorsement propose Good Governance and Monitoring Committee; Environment Protection Committee; Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee; and Social Justice and Human Rights Committee, none of which is a continuation from the pervious parliament.

The Industry, Committee and Consumer Protection Committee will closely follow the issues related to consumer rights. Consumer rights activists are demanding a strong mechanism for the protection of consumer rights. The committee will receive complaints from people and direct the government to address them.

“We have long been lobbying for such a committee in parliament. Many laws and policies need to be drafted for the protection of consumer rights,” said consumer rights activist Advocate Jyoti Baniya. “We have listed 11 prominent issues related to consumer rights. We will submit them once the committee gets its chairperson.”

Environment Protection Committee will be responsible for investigating into cases related to environment. The Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation; the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology; and the Ministry of Urban Development will be under the jurisdiction of this committee.

In the previous parliament, the issue was dealt with by the Natural Resource Committee which did not pay sufficient attention to environmental concerns. Environmentalists had been pressing Parliament Secretariat to form the committee in House . A lack of coordination among the ministries has been detrimental to policy formulation for environment conservation.

The Good Governance Committee has been proposed with an aim to curb corruption and irregularities. The committee will have a mandate to give directions to Prime Minister’s Office and Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

The Social Justice and Human Rights Committee aims to look after cases related to human rights violation. The committee will monitor the tasks performed by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction and the National Human Rights Commission. The committee will work to ensure the social and economic rights of the oppressed and marginalised communities.

Source: Ekantipur