A meeting of the 27 political parties held at CA Secretariat at Singha Durbar on Wednesday endorsed the agreement reached earlier at the high level taskforce meeting headed by the Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on issues related to the system of governance. [break]
According to Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha, the parties agreed to have a unicameral legislature in the provinces.
Leaders at the meeting, however, differed over the procedure to be adopted for the appointment of chief justice and other justices of the Supreme Court, according to Law Minister Prem Bahadur Singh. Earlier, the parties had already reached an agreement to form an independent body like Judicial Council for appointments in the apex court.
The Maoists during the meeting had proposed that the speaker of the House be made coordinator of such a body.
Nepali Congress (NC) Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire said they have decided to endorse the agreements reached under Dahal-led High Level Task Force before forging agreement on 83 of the remaining contentious issues.
Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha said they will finalize the issue of Supreme Court appointments at the next meeting. Though the Maoists had earlier agreed to ensure independence of the judiciary, the party during Wednesday´s meeting maintained that judiciary should be made “accountable” to the people.
The next meeting of the 27 parties has been scheduled for January 2. The parties are yet to agree on various key issues including in system of governance and electoral system in the new constitution.
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