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The Supreme Court has quashed the contempt of court case filed against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, for not meeting sufficient grounds for it to be established.

A joint bench of Justices Hari Prasad Phunyal and Nityanand Pandey today ruled that the contempt of court case does not hold sufficient ground to be entertained.

It may be noted that Senior advocate Kumar Sharma Acharya and advocate Kanchan Krishna Neupane had filed a petition at the apex court in 2077 BS, arguing that PM Oli's comment on the case related to the dissolution of the then House of Representatives, which was sub judice at the Constitutional Bench of the court, and statements targeting senior advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandari amounted to a contempt of court.

Prior to this, a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma had issued an order requiring Oli to appear in person and submit a written response.

As per the order, Prime Minister Oli had appeared in person and submitted a written reply.

The 'Economic Procedure and Fiscal Responsibility (First Amendment) Bill, 2081' has been tabled in the House of Representatives.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel presented the bill in today's meeting of the lower house of the Federal Parliament.

Responding to queries raised by lawmakers who had submitted notice of protest on the occasion, Minister Paudel argued that it was not constitutional that the federal government should make laws only and all development works should be given to the provincial government.

"The statement that the federal government should only make laws and give all the development works to the provincial government may seem attractive to the ear at first. But the country does not make progress in this way. We have a three-tier government, we have provided a structure with executive, legislative and judicial powers at all three levels,” he said.

DPM and Finance Minister Paudel said that the government would move ahead after discussing the tax-related policies while preparing the upcoming fiscal budget.

Lawmakers Prabhu Saha, Prakash Jwala, Prem Suwal, Chitra Bahadur KC, Devendra Poudel and Narayani Sharma had registered a notice of protest against the proposal seeking permission to introduce the Economic Procedure and Financial Responsibility (First Amendment) Bill, 2081 BS.

Saha said the government has not been able to give anything to the people in return for collecting taxes from them while Jwala said that the government has ignored the parliament, parliamentary committees and lawmakers.

Suwal said that the new generation should be cultured and disciplined to make the economic procedure transparent. He said that the incident of vandalisation of the office of the Dean of the Institute of Science and Technology by the students of one of the ruling parties has come to light.

Chitra Bahadur KC demanded that the country's economic development should be done in a proportional manner in practice.

Devendra Poudel opposed the Economic Procedure and Fiscal Responsibility (First Amendment) Bill, 2081, saying it had reduced the role of the Planning Commission.

Narayani Sharma protested that the government had brought the bill through an ordinance without completing all the procedures at a time when the Economic Procedure and Financial Responsibility Bill was moving ahead in the process of discussion in the parliamentary committee.

The meeting had rejected the notice of opposition regarding the Economic Procedure and Fiscal Responsibility (First Amendment) Bill, 2081 by a majority.

The Bill on Amending Some Nepal Acts Related to Promotion of Good Governance and Public Service Delivery, 2081 BS has been presented in the House of Representatives.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung tabled the bill on behalf of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Presenting the bill, Minister Gurung said the ordinances had to be brought as the related legislations were needed when both the houses of parliament were not in session.

He said any kind of prejudice narrowed the horizon of thinking and it is a parochial view to oppose the ordinance just by its name without going into its contents.

Stating that he respected the lawmakers' views, Minister Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson, urged the MPs to think in a constructive manner.

Contending that the government's bringing the bill is in alignment with the constitution, he requested the cooperation of lawmakers for the bill's passage from the House.

Before this, the House of Representatives' meeting had rejected the note of dissent against the proposal seeking permission to present the bill in the House.

The House meeting rejected by a majority the note of protest on the proposal received from lawmakers Prabhu Saha, Prakash Jwala, Prem Suwal, Hitraj Pandey, Chitra Bahadur KC and Durga Rai.

Koshi Province Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki has said collaborative efforts among the three-tier government are needed to combat drug abuse.

Inaugurating a program entitled 'Fight onward against drug abuse' organized by the Koshi Province Police today, the Chief Minister urged the three-level governments to implement the awareness programs against substance abuse before it is late.

The three-level governments should collaboratively reach the community, making them aware of consequences of drug abuse.

He also pledged to allocate a budget for containment of drug addiction in the upcoming fiscal year.