KATHMANDU, July 14: Due to the obstruction made by the main opposition party, CPN-UML, the bill on loans shark has been removed from the agenda of House of Representatives (HoR). The Speaker is scheduled to remove the bill and include other issues on the agenda, in the meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Friday.
On July 5, the CPN-UML obstructed the parliament session, which was supposed to pass the bill through a replacement ordinance brought by the government. Although the bill to replace the ordinance was scheduled to be passed on July 5, 7, and 9, the CPN-UML repeatedly obstructed the parliament session, halting the process.
On July 10, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal gave a clarification and the parliament meeting was conducted. On that day too, the issue of passing the bill on loans shark was kept on the possible agenda.
However, after Prime Minister Dahal’s speech, the meeting was adjourned by passing the condolence resolution. After that, this bill has also been removed from the possible agenda of the parliament meeting scheduled to begin at 1 pm on Friday.
Parliament likely to pass loan-shark bill today
According to sources, it is seen that the bill was obstructed due to pressure from some influential Terai-centered lawmakers within the CPN-UML. It is said that the pressure from lawmakers like Raghubir Mahaseth and Lila Nath Shrestha led the party to refrain from passing this bill. Sources claimed that the UML is preparing to take the replacement bill to the committee.
After taking it to the committee, it seems that it may be difficult to pass the bill until the current term of this parliament. During the term of the previous parliament, many bills that reached the committee could not be passed, except for a few. “Seeing the haste of the CPN-UML, this bill cannot be passed easily," said the source.
According to one of the leaders, the bill will be passed only if CPN-UML chairperson KP Oli agrees in the meeting on Friday. Bill, 2080 to amend some Nepal Acts related to the Civil Code, which originated in the National Assembly, has provisions to address the grievances of loan shark victims. In the amendment Article 249 (a) has been added to the Criminal Code 2074 BS to make the act for unfair transaction and to punish such activities.
The provision includes arrangements for preparing a document when someone claims to have made a payment but has not, preparing a document for an amount greater than the actual transaction amount, adding interest to the document at the time of the transaction, preparing a new document with added interest, refusing to acknowledge the repayment of the amount owed, charging excessive interest beyond the agreed terms, making threats, violence, or exploitation for the recovery of an unlawful debt, or transferring the rights of immovable property of a debtor based on an unlawful transaction or acknowledging an unlawful transaction as valid.
There is provision that individuals who conduct transactions against the rules can face imprisonment for up to seven years and a fine of up to Rs 70,000. If a person involved in an unlawful transaction transfers the equivalent amount of the debtor's immovable property, the provision allows for the unlawful transfer of the debtor's rights to be cancelled. Similarly, if the unlawful transaction is made in someone else's name, provisions are in place to rectify it.
A few months ago, the government also formed a committee to understand the problems of loan shark victims who were protesting in Kathmandu. Prime Minister Dahal met the usury victims and promised to bring the law.
After the UML expressed opposition to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s statement that Pritam Singh had gone to Delhi to make himself the Prime Minister, the party demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister in the HoR on July 5. On that day, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had said that there was a conspiracy to prevent the passing of the bill related to loan shark.
The proposed agenda for Friday's meeting includes informing the House about the message received from the National Assembly regarding the Appropriation Bill, 2080 BS, some bills for amending certain Nepal Acts, including the proposal to seek permission to present the Bill, 2080 BS, which seeks to amend the 79 laws, presenting the proposal for decision-making on opposition to the Bill, and discussing the Nepal University Bill, 2080 BS, which was passed in the National Assembly. However, the Bill, 2080 to amend some Nepal Acts related to the Civil Code, which was introduced to regulate loans shark, has not been included.
According to the Ordinance 2080 BS, there is a provision that the bill to amend certain Nepal Acts including Civil Code, presented on May 7, which were annulled in the previous session, must be passed within 60 days after being tabled in the parliament.
