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The second meeting of the National Assembly on Thursday endorsed the Bill to amend some Nepal Acts.

The bill was brought with a purpose of taking action against those involved in usury by addressing the problems of victims.

The NA passed the bill again accepting the amendment to the bill related to usury sent by the House of Representatives with amendment and message.

On the occasion, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dhanraj Gurung presented a proposal for the passage of the bill.

The bill was put to a decision after none of the lawmakers took part in discussion on the bill.

Now, the bill will be sent for the process of authentication.

NA Secretary Dr Surendra Aryal tabled the bill in today's first meeting.

The HoR had passed the bill with amendment on July 16.

The NA will next meet at 1:01 pm on August 3.

The Supreme Court on Thursday annulled the appointment of Koshi Province Chief Minister Uddhav Thapa.

Hearing the case filed against the Koshi government, a full bench of Justices comprising Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Til Prasad Shrestha directed province Chief Parshuram Khapung to take ahead the process to form a new government within seven days.

The apex court issued the order to form the government again as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal.

The CPN-UML on July 7 had filed a writ at the Supreme Court arguing that the new government was formed in the Koshi Province in an illegal way.

UML Chief Whip Rewati Raman Bhandari on behalf of UML Koshi Province Parliamentary Party leader and outgoing chief minister Hikmat Kumar Karki had filed the writ demanding a mandamus order.

Hearing the writ filed against Koshi Province Chief Minister Uddhav Thapa, a joint bench of Justices Sushmalata Mathema and Til Prasad Shrestha issued an order to send the writ to the full bench.

After a preliminary hearing, a single bench of Justice Sapana Malla Pradhan issued an interim order not to take a decision that would have long-term effects on the Koshi Province government.

Province Chief Parshuram Khapung, Chief Minister Thapa and Speaker Baburam Gautam were made defendants.

Thapa was elected as the chief minister with the support of 29 lawmakers of Nepali Congress, 12 of CPN (Maoist Center), four of CPN (Unified Socialist) and one of Janata Samajbadi Party and Speaker Gautam.

The main opposition CPN-UML has demanded fair investigation into the smuggling of around 100 kg gold that had passed undetected through the TIA customs.

Speaking in today's meeting of the National Assembly, UML lawmaker Devendra Dahal demanded the formation of a probe committee comprising representatives of the government and various political parties in this regard.

"A high-level probe committee should be formed. If there is no fair investigation by forming such a committee, such incidents of smuggling will continue," he said.

In case of the formation of a parliamentary probe committee, it should also involve representatives of the members of the National Assembly, he said.

He also demanded the response from Home Minister and Finance Minister in the Parliament relating to the security of the airport and probity of customs office while calling for bringing the respective minister and the chief of the airport, and customs office employees under the scope of investigations.

Referring to the airport customs chief and the security chief, who stayed on leave when the gold smuggling took place, he suspected something fishy in the case.

Mentioning that a huge cache of gold was smuggled into Nepal through the airport on July 19, he said, gold smuggling is a serious issue.

"Nepal has become a transit for gold smuggling," he said.

Shortly after Dahal put forth his views, the UML protested the advancement of the Parliament business by the NA Chair Ganesh Prasad Timilsina.

Following the protest, Timilsina said that the schedule for NA members to put their view during the zero hour had been removed.

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Saran Mahat said that the government will provide full support to the probe committee to investigate the gold smuggling case in an independent manner.

Inspecting the Tribhuvan International Airport on Thursday, the finance minister said that some staffers have been suspended after the gold smuggling case, expressing commitment to allow the probe committee to investigate the case independently.

He claimed that the probe committee will find out whether it is the machine or the human weakness in the gold smuggling case.

Minister Mahat said that he has directed the authority concerned to bar the entry of unauthorized persons in the Customs Office.

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Saying that the people could use new technologies to commit crime, he opined that the technologies in the customs office should also be changed as per the time.

Minister Mahat further said that he has already held discussions with the concerned authorities of the airport for the same.

Finance Minister Mahat had inspected the arrival, departure and customs area of the airport.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha had also inspected the customs area after the gold smuggling case.

Earlier on July 20, the Revenue Investigation Department had recovered around 100 kg of gold that passed out of airport’s customs without being detected from Sinamangal.