The judiciary and legislative are once again at loggerheads over the constituency development fund. A day after the Supreme Court prohibited the utilization of government-allocated funds for constituency development, lawmakers on Thursday criticized the judiciary for overstepping its jurisdiction.
On Wednesday, the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court issued an interim order halting the implementation of the budget assigned for the Constituency Development Funds in the fiscal year 2023/24. The court cited the principles of the separation of powers, the responsibilities of managerial tasks, the roles of legislators, the obligations of the planning commission and associated ministries, the notion of planned development, conflicts of interest, good governance, and accountability behind its order.
Shyam Kumar Ghimire, a lawmaker from the Nepali Congress, voiced his disapproval of the interim order, accusing the Supreme Court of overstepping its authority and infringing upon the affairs of the legislative. During Thursday’s session of the House of Representatives, he contended that the order had impinged upon the constitution’s principle of maintaining a clear separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
Surya Thapa, a lawmaker from the opposition CPN-UML, asserted that the exclusive authority to create and allocate budget lies solely with the parliament. He emphasized that the prerogative to make decisions regarding the budget resides exclusively within the parliamentary chambers.
Constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya says that the constitution has not solely established the separation of powers, but has also implemented check and balance. “I think the apex court has used the power of check and balance and reviewed it as there were complaints about misuse of constituency development funds.”
He also points out that the court has only issued an interim order. “If the fund is not misused, the court might review its decision again,” he adds.
The government had allocated Rs 50m to each of the 165 constituencies under the ‘Parliamentary Infrastructure Development Program’.
