LEGAL AND POLITICAL ASPECT OF POST-LEGISLATIVE SCRUTINY IN ASIA

SPECIAL FOCUS ON NEPAL'S EXPERIENCES

Paper Submitted to

Academic Conference on Post-Legislative scrutiny in Asia

Yangon Myanmar 17-18 June 2019

by

KhimlalDevkota

Senior Advocate/Member of Constituent Assembly, Nepal

1
 Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................3
Background.................................................................................................................................................3
Definition of Legislative Scrutiny:..............................................................................................................4
Introduction of Nepal:.................................................................................................................................5
Legal instruments:.......................................................................................................................................6
Constitutional Provision..........................................................................................................................6
Bylaws of Parliament..............................................................................................................................6
Major provision of Working Procedure...................................................................................................7
Definition of legal audit:......................................................................................................................8
Objective of legal audit:.......................................................................................................................8
Basis of legal audit:.............................................................................................................................8
Jurisdiction of Legal Audit..................................................................................................................9
Time of legal audit.............................................................................................................................10
Procedure of legal audit.....................................................................................................................10
Priority of legal audit.........................................................................................................................10
Timeline of legal audit.......................................................................................................................11
Limitation of legal audit....................................................................................................................11
Law making process:.................................................................................................................................11
Legislative Scrutiny Process and Structures:.............................................................................................12
Stages of Scrutiny:.....................................................................................................................................13
Impact........................................................................................................................................................14
Legal Impact..............................................................................................................................................14
Political Impact.........................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................15
References.................................................................................................................................................16

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 LEGAL AND POLITICAL ASPECT OF POST-
LEGISLATIVE SCRUTINY IN ASIA
SPECIAL FOCUS ON NEPAL'S EXPERIENCES

-KhimlalDevkota

Senior Advocate/Member of Constituent Assembly, Nepal

ABSTRACT
The main objective of legislative scrutiny is an evaluation of the law made by parliament. The paper
intends to identify the importance of the core topic and questions to be addressed. For this purpose, the
paper will find the current status of the legislative scrutiny briefly around the world and specifically in
Nepal. The paper tries to find the subject on how legislative scrutiny has been carried out in the field
through secondary sources, using websites and available literature and obtaining some empirical
evidences from the parliament. The paper will try to conclude why legislative scrutiny is needed and what
impact it will have in legal and political sector.

Keywords:legislative scrutiny, parliament, politics

I.BACKGROUND
Parliament is the state's legislative body. Law making and Post - legislative scrutiny are the main
tasks of the legislative body. Laws are made to be implemented and effective implementation of
the law is one of the major challenges faced not only in Nepal but in most countries in Asia. Law
making process is easier compared to implementing the same law. Legislative work and
effective law enforcement is state's both legal and political task.Political plans are also implemen
ted through legislation. Government performances will bemeasured through effective law enforc
ement that can be judged through post - legislative scrutiny.

UK is known to be a country with systematic and advanced legislative scrutiny till date. The
Committee of Public Accounts of the United Kingdom initially performed this task but later
handed over to the Committee of Public Audit and Legislative Scrutiny. Belgium has an ex-post
evaluation parliamentary committee of laws doing this business. Canadian parliament deals with
sunset clause laws. Indonesian experience is quite interesting, with 17 law analysts setting up a
separate committee outside the parliament. For the purposes of scrutiny, Switzerland has a
separate committee called Parliamentary Control of Administration [PCA]. (Devkota, September
2018).

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The region of South Asia has different political systems. Nepal and India have similar political
system. India's experience in the parliamentary system is long and deep, whereas Nepal has very
short experience. Nepal and India have both adopted parliamentary and constitutional systems
through constituent assemblies. India is regarded as the largest democratic country, whereas
Nepal has very little experience but has restored the parliamentary system over and over again.
Nepal is a federal democratic republican country with parliamentary system. The impact of
parliamentary practices is limited despite having substantial history of parliamentary practice in
Nepal. The country in the recent past has gone through a decade long conflict. It is a positive
sign that Nepal is in the phase of completing the transition. The country has an extraordinary
history of producing seven constitutions in only seven decades. The current constitution of the
constituent assembly elected by the people is the seventh constitution that now governs the
country. Nepal, through a new constitution promulgated in 2015, has adopted a reformed
parliamentary system. Nepal is a country that has been continuously trying to reform and
improve the parliamentary system to align with the aspirations of the general people. With this
spirit, I would like to explain parliamentary functions based on the new constitution's reformed
parliamentary practices. Lawmaking is the parliament's main business. Oversight function of the
Parliament and deliberation of the voice of the people in the parliament are distinct and regularly
practiced function of the parliament. Legislative scrutiny is a new affair for Nepal, although the
country's initiative is praise worthy. With a few examples, I would like to introduce the country's
initiative on legislative scrutiny. This study was carried out on the basis of legal arrangements
and their practices. I would like to share some of the impacts of the law-making process in
Nepal.

II DEFINITION OF LEGISLATIVE SCRUTINY :

Parliamentary scrutiny is the close examination and investigation of government policies, actions
and spending that is carried out by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and their
committees.1 Pre-legislative scrutiny is the detailed examination of an early draft of a Bill that is
done by a parliamentary select committee before the final version is drawn up by the
Government.2 Post-legislative scrutiny is an inquiry by a parliamentary select committee into
how a new law has worked in practice since it came into force. 3 Law commission of UK has
defined post-legislative scrutiny as following,

“Post-legislative scrutiny is a broad and undefined expression, which means different

things to different people. This statement is certainly borne out by the responses we have
received. The best approach to defining post-legislative scrutiny is to consider what its
purposes and benefits should be……….”(UK_Post_Legislative_Scrutiny_2006)

1
https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/scrutiny-parliamentary-scrutiny/
2
https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/pre-legislative-scrutiny/
3
https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/post-legislative-scrutiny/

4
Since the central argumentation of this study revolves around the term parliamentary scrutiny, it
seems appropriate to provide a definition thereof. According to Ronald Holzhacker,
parliamentary scrutiny can be defined as the exercise of power by the legislative branch to
control, influence, or monitor government decision-making.

The publication of Westminster Foundation for Democracy on Legislative Scrutiny, Overview of

Legislative Scrutiny, practiced in the UK, India, Indonesia and France has been drafted by
Franklin De Vrieze, on behalf of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), and
defines Legislative Scrutiny as following,

“One of the main tasks of parliament in a democratic system of governance is to consider

debate, review and adopt legislation. No matter how or by whom a draft law1 is
developed, parliament’s job is to review the draft law prior to deciding whether or not to
adopt the law, with or without amendments.[ CITATION Vri18 \l 1033 ]

According to the working procedure on legislative Scrutiny 2018 of legislative management

committee, National Assembly of Nepal has defined the legal scrutiny as following;4

“The method of study, investigation and audit of implementation of any act, clause sub-
clause any parts, of federal laws its positive and negative impact on concern stakeholders
is called legal audit.”

Again Franklin De Vrieze writes in Post-legislative Scrutiny Guide for Parliaments;

‘One of the main roles of parliament is to create laws that meet the needs of the country’s
citizens. It is also a parliament’s role to evaluate whether the laws it has passed achieve
their intended outcome(s). Post- Legislative Scrutiny refers to the stage at which a
parliament applies itself to this question: whether the laws of a country are producing
expected outcomes, to what extent, and if not, why not.”[ CITATION Vri17 \l 1033 ].

On the basis of the above definition, we can simply define that the term scrutiny is a legislative
review. The stages of legislative scrutiny can be categorized into three phase namely Pre-
legislative scrutiny, during legislative scrutiny and post-legislative scrutiny.

III NEPAL'S CONTEXT:

Nepal is a country of Lord Buddha, a symbol of peace; Mount Everest, a symbol of height and
Gorkha, a symbol of warrior. Nepal can also be known as a country with a lot of parliamentary
reforms. Reform is an inevitable process and major reforms and progressive changes have taken
place even in political system. Nepal's current constitution has been reformed in traditional
parliamentary practices within parliamentary system reform. During the constitution making
process, political stability was the country's demand, but the then parliamentary system and

4
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018.

5
practices could not guarantee that. Therefore, parties were considering changing the system.
There was also a huge debate and initiative to change the system from parliamentary system to
direct elected presidential system. However, all political parties finally agreed on reforming the
major provisions in the constitution that will create a possibility of political stability. Therefore,
in constitution, the parliamentary system continued. The task of the legislature has not changed
in this continuation of the parliamentary system. Legislative body makes the law, but making a
law alone does not fulfill the legislature's duty. Legislative body must ensure that the
parliamentary law is well enforced. Parliament's role on the drafting, finalizing and
implementing the law is positive. But there are expectations and concerns on whether the
objective of the law is achieved or not and also whether the law has created a positive impact or
not. These expectations will only be met after the scrutiny process. Pre, during and post-
legislative scrutiny is therefore the parliament's most important part.

IV LEGAL INSTRUMENTS:
There are a number of instruments to implement the law. The Constitution of Nepal, the National
Assembly Regulations and the Working Procedure of the National Assembly Legislative
Management Committee are the main legal instruments. All the legal instruments refer more or
less to content and process Legislative Scrutiny.

1 CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION
As per the constitution of Nepal there is a federal parliament provision In Chapter 8 and
formation of parliament by mixed electoral system and nominee from the head of state in Article
83. Article 97 has provision of different committees. There is also a provision of Joint
Committee to resolve the business of both Houses. In addition to that the constitution also has a
separate procedure to conduct parliamentary affairs. The Constitution states as follows:5

“Procedures relating to conduct of business:

(1) Each House of the Federal Parliament shall frame rules to conduct its business,
maintain order during its meetings and regulate the Constitution, functions and
procedures of the committees and procedures of the House or its committee. Until such
rules are framed, the Federal Parliament shall regulate its procedures on its own.

(2) The conduct of business of the joint sitting of the Federal Parliament, and constitution
and proceedings of the joint committee of the Federal Parliament shall be regulated by
the rules or procedures approved by the joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal
Parliament.” (The Constitution of Nepal 2015)

The executive body must be controlled by different means by the parliament in the context of the
limited government such as by asking questions, seeking clarifications in various issues
including plans, programs and annual budget. Parliament monitors the executive by discussing
5
Constitution of Nepal,2015

6
various proposals in the house and issuing various directives. Constitutional obligation of the
parliament is also to have democratic control on the executive body and ensure concerns of the
general public.

2 Bylaws of Parliament
Most of the parliament's functions are mentioned in the Constitution. The Constitution has given
Parliament a mandate to make rules for the parliament to function. Parliament can make the rules
of procedure which is called "Bylaws." Bylaws made by the parliament especially by National
Assembly specify the task of the committee on scrutiny. The National Assembly's Rules of
Procedure chapter 18 clauses 146 are related to the various committees. The National Assembly
shall include various subject-matter wise committees or special committees to support the regular
function of the National Assembly.6

Under the subject committees referred to in Article 97 of the Constitution, there shall be
following committees referred to in clause 147 to ensure government accountability, oversight of
government functions and issuance of direction and instructions. There are four different
committees in place in accordance with clause 147, including legislative management and
government assurance committee. The Legislative Management Committee, including other
tasks, is responsible for legislative scrutiny.7 It has made working procedure 2075 based on the
bylaws (Bylaws of National Assembly, 2018) committee and is now being implemented.
(Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny, 2018).

Legislative scrutiny is a new task that has begun in Nepal through the National Assembly's
specific committee. It is not only the task but the provisions of the law, bylaws and procedures
are also new. Though most committee members are new, the committee has started their work
very smoothly. They are looking for experiences from around the world. It is necessary for them
to understand about international experiences. In the initial phase committee consulted experts
on committee business. In addition to the committee's regular task, experts advised the
committee to initiate legislative scrutiny as stated in the bylaws. First of all, the Committee itself
tried to understand what scrutiny is and how it operates. The Committee asked the expert to
submit a paper on the specific topic. The Legislative Management Committee decided after a
series of meetings to organize a major seminar on legal scrutiny. Committee invited all
parliamentary and government officials including House Speaker and National Assembly
Chairman, Law Minister and Attorney General for discussion.

The committee decided to draft a working procedure with the help of experts. The committee has
set some ground, standards and tools for measuring the law as a scrutiny task in the working
procedure. Very clear understanding was developed in the working procedure on the need for
scrutiny. Objective, basis, process, tools, timeline, priority and limitation were very clearly
specified.
6
Bylaws of National Assembly 2075, clause 146
7
Bylaws of National Assembly 2075, clause 147

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 a Major provisions of Working Procedure
The committee made the work procedure after rigorous exercise. Major working procedure
provisions developed by the committee are basically referred to the various legal audit
provisions. Procedure relating to an act implementation measure, study and investigation
standard 2075 has been approved and effectively started on..... November 2018. Preamble of the
procedure mentioned that the legal audit task is regulated and managed by the working
procedure. Legal audit is not an easy task without principles. Examining the work already done
by the parliament, execution by the government and interpretation by the Court is a sensitive
task. The task of examining must therefore be within the principles. Author Franklin De vrieze
writes the principles of scrutiny “the Principles discuss the mandate to conduct Post-Legislative
Scrutiny in Parliament (the “why”), the scope (the “what”), the participants (the “who”), the
processes (the “how”) and the timing (the “when”).”[ CITATION Vri181 \l 1033 ]

b Definition of legal audit:

Initially, defining their job, working procedure and limitations was a difficult job. The committee
defined the meaning of the legal audit that prescribes the task successfully. As per the working
procedure legal audit is defined as "The method of studying, investigating and auditing the
implementation of any act, sub-clause any parts, federal laws its positive and negative impact on
stakeholders concerned is called legal audit."8

c Objective of legal audit:

The objective is set out in clause 3 of the legal audit work procedure 2018. Clause 3 focuses
primarily on research of proper law enactment and effective law enforcement. While the laws are
being audited, it can look at whether the procedure is being properly implemented, imagining the
laws ' error, duplications and redundant clause. The following five objectives are specified in the
procedure:9

 To take necessary action to remove duplication of any laws

 To repeal inactive or redundant laws in whole or in part or any clause of the laws
 To create a conducive and necessary environment for the enactment of laws
 To encourage effective implementation of laws immediately after the enactment of laws
 To create a suitable condition for making laws in accordance with the spirit of
constitution and the principles of natural justice.

d Basis of legal audit:

Legal auditing is not an easy task. Since it is a new practice in Nepal, a lot of caution should be
taken while performing the activity. With this understanding, committee has specified the basis
for the legal audit. It means there is no limitation in auditing the law. The committee is very
concerned about effective law enforcement throughout. Consequently, committee found some
basis for ensuring effective law enforcement. The Committee always has the competence to

8
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, clause 2a
9
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 1, clause 3

8
decide the legal audit basis. That is why the working procedure made it clear that the basis for
the legal audit will be as initially prescribed by the committee. In addition to this working
procedure, some legal audit measures have been mentioned. Following the 2018 working
procedure, measures shall be adopted for this purpose;10

 To confirm whether the act allowed the relevant authorities to draw up rules, bylaws,
directives and procedures.
 To confirm whether regulations, bylaws, directives and procedures were permitted by the
authorities. If it permitted then whether or not the authorities followed it properly.
 Confirm whether target groups and stakeholders can achieve the social, economic and
inclusive expectations or any benefits.
 To confirm whether laws have been implemented after the laws have been promulgated.
 Confirm whether or not the Supreme Court has ordered any law.
 To confirm whether or not the provisions of state policy and guidelines referred to in the
constitutions have been implemented.
 Confirm whether or not any institution is expected to implement the laws established
 Confirm whether equality is maintained for the purposes of law enforcement
 Confirm whether or not law enforcement is consistent with the purpose, intention and
purpose.
 Confirm whether or not the law has any economic, social or cultural impact.
 Confirm whether or not any provision of law required any modification.
 Confirm whether there is any objection and obstacle to law enforcement.
 Confirm whether laws are compatible with Nepal's international treaty and conventions.
 Any other basis that the committee considers.

e Jurisdiction of Legal Audit

Working procedure has the number of subjects listed as the committee's jurisdiction for legal
audit purpose. The working procedure has study, research and investigation as topics. Law
auditing must focus on state policies, state liabilities, and state mechanisms. According to the
procedure, the Legislative Management Committee is entitled to study and research through
committee itself or through staff, experts and expert groups on the following subjects;11

 Theoretical aspect of the bill and concerned state policy.

 Whether the act is genuinely compatible with the spirit of the bill.
 Whether the liability of the consolidated fund or any government financial liability.
 Submission or omission of any offense or increase or decrease substantive punishment
clauses.
 Imposing, reducing or suspending tax.
 Establishment of all judicial or quasi-judicial bodies and their jurisdictions on matters
relating to them.
 Any management of the regulatory framework or permission on matters relating to them.

10
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 2, clause 4
11
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 2, clause 5

9
  Implementation of acting in accordance with the law referred to in the Constitution.
 Any restriction on matters relating to fundamental rights.
 Regulation and management of everyday behavior and conducts of citizens.
 Any subject considered by the committee.

f Time of legal audit

The job of law auditing is not an open task. Not all laws are subject to auditing. Legal audit is not
a task that never ends. Instead, the legal audit task is limited in terms of the law's length of time
and maturity. Even so, the committee has full rights to decide what to do on legislative scrutiny
and when to do it. According to the working procedure on the timeframe for legal audit, "Except
for any instruction by the committee, generally audits of the laws shall be made if the laws are
implemented for at least 3 years”.12

g Procedure of legal audit

Legal audit is the committee's substantive task. The committee has the right to recommend in any
legal matter to the government through the legal audit. If committee finds some loopholes in the
law then committee can recommend new legislation. If committee finds that proper bylaws,
regulations and directives are not made properly, it may recommend taking necessary action for
amendment. If committee finds some redundant clauses or non-compatible provisions then
committee may recommend revising. This huge task must be properly accomplished. Therefore
some process has been fixed in the working procedure. Another important part of the working
process is how the legal audit objective has to be fulfilled. Consultations are the focus of the
working procedure. Chapter 3 and clause 7 of the working procedure states that ,"Consultation
with federal, provincial and local authorities and other stakeholders, observation, field visits and
any other methods, consultation with experts, consultation with government authorities,
consultation with civil societies, consultation with university professionals and research
institutes, consultation with any others as considered by the committee". 13 It is very clear that the
legal audit is a very sensitive job and therefore proper consultation with the concerned
stakeholders is a must.

h Prioritizing legal audit

Legal auditing must be carried out, but should not be open to everyone. There are some criteria
for prioritizing the audit task. Once again, the committee has full rights although some priorities
have been set for this purpose by the working procedure. The Committee shall determine the
priority according to the working procedure14 on the following basis

 Citizen’s rights and freedom and citizenship related issues

 Public interest issues
 Good governance and judicial administrations related issues

12
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 2, clause 6
13
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 3, clause 7
14
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 3, clause 8[1]

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  Use of natural resources related issues
 Consumer rights and public supplies related issues
 Drinking water, education and health related issues
 Women children senior citizens disable inclusion and social welfare issues
 Agriculture industries employment and labor management related issues
 Tourism and civil aviation management issues
 Urban development road and infrastructure development and others related issues
 As per consideration of committee issues

iTimeline of legal audit

Law auditing is not an open-ended task. The audit task must be completed within three months
from the commencement. Three months is a legal audit timeframe. In the event of an unfinished
task, the committee shall have full rights to take appropriate decision.15

j Limitation of legal audit

Legal audit is not an infinite task. It has some limitation. Constitutional provisions, general
principles of law and justice, due respect of gender, colors, caste and languages, principles of
balance of convenience, financial limitation and others limitations are limitation of the task of
legal audit.16

Some of the miscellaneous provisions are also mentioned in Chapter 5 according to the legal
audit working procedure. As per the legal audit working procedure the committee secretariat 17
shall also be a legal audit secretariat. Subcommittee and task force18 shall be established as
necessary. Expert support and expert panel 19 shall be obtained as required by the committee and
the terms and references of the experts and expert panel shall be as prescribed by the committee.
Committee’s task force and subcommittee shall submit the report 20 that has been approved by the
committee to the National Assembly on behalf of the committee. Record 21 will be sent to the
library of the parliament. Interpretation 22 of the working procedure is finalized after the
consultation in the committee which is chaired by the Committee Chairman.

3 Law making process:

The process of law making varies across different regions, continents and countries. Although
most parliamentary practices appear to be similar in the process of making law. Nearly the same
practice was adopted where we tried to address common issues like why it is necessary to make
law and how the law making takes place and what results are the substance of the law.
15
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 4, clause 9
16
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 4, clause 10
17
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 5, clause 11
18
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 5, clause 12
19
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018,Chapter 5, clause 13
20
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 5, clause 14
21
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 5, clause 15
22
Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny 2018, Chapter 5, clause 16

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Legislation aims at implementing government policies, maintaining the rules of law,
institutionalizing decision-making processes, and fulfilling international obligations. These are
the basics of making the law. From the very beginning, Nepal practices the same procedure.
Mostly the financial and security bill known as the government bill can only be initiated by the
government but any other bill known as the private bill can be initiated by any parliament
member. Origin of the bill is mostly from the concerned ministry if it is a government bill and
from a Member of Parliament if it is a private bill with adequate justification. Justification for
bringing this bill must be provided at this stage. The bill is proposed when the existing laws are
not sufficient and even the amendment cannot satisfy the need. If the cabinet is satisfied, the
ministry will be then allowed to draft the bill. In the second stage, before the cabinet approval
inputs from the law ministry is required to determine whether the bill is compatible with
constitution and already existing state policies and international obligations. Upon consent from
the law ministry the Cabinet will provide approval and the bill will be tabled in the parliament.
After discussion in the parliament committee the bill will be approved and will be forwarded to
National Assembly and finally for authentication by the parliament after which the bill will turn
into Act.

4 Legislative Scrutiny Process and Structures:

Legislative scrutiny practices also vary in different regions, continents and countries as
previously mentioned processes of law making. In parliamentary bylaws, Nepal formally
adopted a separate committee. The committee has developed numerous parameters, standards
and legislative scrutiny modalities. The scrutiny was initially defined by the working procedure

12
with a clear objective. One of the major tasks in the field of legislative scrutiny is the
establishment of the basis and jurisdiction by the working procedure. Procedure and priority and
timeline are another achievement developed by Nepal's parliament in the field of legislative
scrutiny. Nepal's parliament also identifies and incorporates the number of miscellaneous
provisions and practicalities into the working procedure as a major contribution.

5 Stages of Scrutiny:
Stages of legislative scrutiny holds equal importance as legislative scrutiny these days. The entire
purpose of legislative scrutiny is to ensure effective law enforcement. Parliament, although less
focused on implementation, is liable to make laws. The parliament has also been given an
oversight function that is also directly related to the government's effectiveness as well as
legislation. Therefore, if it was done by proper investigation, pre-legislation will be insured
during the legislation and effective enforcement of legislation. Thus, for the purpose of
legislative scrutiny, pre-legislation, during legislation and post-legislation stages were developed
by parliament of Nepal.

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D
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V Impact
The task of legislative scrutiny has just been introduced in the committee which has already
drawn several attentions. Only preparatory work has been done by the committee to make all
concerned stakeholders including ministries aware of the legislative work, the process of drafting
legislation and finally the scrutiny to see whether the law is properly implemented or not. Only
after a good discussion at each stage of legislation drafting and proper preparatory work we can
make fruitful and result oriented law. There are a number of laws without rules and procedures
and it makes implementation of these laws very difficult. During the scrutiny process, some of
the bylaws are made.

1 Legal Impact
Basically, in parliamentary system they have two kind of bill having registered in parliament.
Government bill is in top priority and private bill is in second. According to constitution there is
attractive provision for private bill in principle but in practice it is rarely happening. Nepal
experiences out of 70 years only three private bill had registered. It means bill drafting and
presenting in the parliament is almost the task of government. Government in parliamentary
system there is always having with commanding and relaxing majority. Once bill presenting in
parliament by majority commanded government, it is obvious to be passed with limited
discussion. Once government in majority, the law making process also shall be badly dominated
by the effect of majority. In the absence of the legislative scrutiny unwanted consequences
happening. With this stake the practices of legislative scrutiny has increasing day by day. When
legislative scrutiny work started, the legal impact has seen in legal jurisdiction. Drafting a bill is

14
not just for pass by parliament but it is beyond that. It means after enactment of law it should be
functionable and it is scrutinizes by the parliament itself. This is a key massage conveying to
draft person. Secondly, bill after approved from the parliament during the process of
implementation, it has to be practical receptive and result oriented. In this phase of
implementation the implementing agencies are always looking for effective implementation of
law, which is most important legal impact. Thirdly, the objective of scrutiny is conveying clear
message to drafting and implementing agencies both for better result and better law.

Nepal has just entered in the phase of scrutiny. Being a very young country in legislative scrutiny
it has serious impact in bill drafting, implementation and taking care of positive results. Draft
persons they are drafting a bill keeping in mind that it has to face scrutiny at any coast and in any
phase. Because of such cause Nepal has getting better laws after the legislative scrutiny.

Very interesting fact is that India's lawmaking process is becoming increasingly controversial. A
typical bill is drafted in secret by the government department concerned (sometimes in
consultation with other departments, and often with just a few bureaucrats preparing a bill in a
hurry), and this secret bill is approved by the Cabinet for presentation to the House of Parliament
(or the State Legislature, as the case may be). 23Usually, the content of the Bill is only made
public when it is introduced in the House. You can deduce the attention paid to a typical
Parliament bill from the following data:24

 In 2009, only 16% of the total Parliamentary time was spent on legislative business. 27%
of the total Bills passed in the year by Lok Sabha was discussed for less than 5 minutes.
Only five Bills passed by the Lok Sabha in 2009 were debated for more than three hours.

A rule of law is a key component of modern democracies. Without proper law and effective
enforcement, it will be pointless to maintain the rules of law. Legal impact on the field of
legislative scrutiny is therefore most important. Proper and effective implementation of the laws
will be ensured by the practice of legislative scrutiny. In addition, it is possible to identify lapses
and gaps and resolve them in order to modify them. Anomalies and duplications will be
removed as well as redundant laws. These actions will make the legal regime smarter than the
past and strengthen the rules of law and democracy. By establishing a culture of post-legislative
reviews, these can be designed to assess whether a piece of legislation's objectives and
anticipated effects actually took place on the ground. They can also identify any unintended
effects that the legislation may have had. A key advantage would be the systematic data
collection that would be a prerequisite for any such evaluation. Regular post-legislative
assessments should therefore be translated into better laws.
23
Even the main opposition parties are rarely consulted during the drafting process. See, Suman Jha, ‘Government
not keeping Opposition on Board’ the Indian Express 15 April 2010 (available at
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-not-keeping-oppn-on-board-complains-bjp/606522/0 ).
24
Data provided by PRS Legislative Research, available at:
http://www.prsindia.org/index.php?
name=Sections&id=5&parent_category=&category=60&action=bill_details&bill_id=989

15
 2 Political Impact
The major task of the parliament is law making. In principles it is fine. However in practice it is
happening rarely. The concern of the law makers is beyond that. Elected representatives are
waiting for minister and task of development rather than law making. Any Efforts made by
Member of Parliament in law making process has not count any more by the society. Peoples are
not concern about who is contributing a lot in law making process and no one paid attention for
better laws. Peoples are looking for immediate impact and benefit from development work.
Better laws shall produce the impact in the society for long run. But peoples are losing their
patient. Gradually the task of parliament is shifting towards developmental works from law
making. In this critical scenario legislative scrutiny has taking vital role in parliamentary
politics. When legislative scrutiny became a part of major task of parliament it effects on
performance of parliament and working style and executive and law implementing agencies
simultaneously.

There is no doubt; the goal of politics is to establish a civilized society and to run it smoothly to
serve the nation and people. Only after proper law and effective law enforcement will the ideal
goal is fulfilled. Legislative scrutiny will be a appropriate tool and it can prove itself. Legislative
scrutiny therefore has an important role to play in promoting democracy. People will be happy
and nation will only prosper in proper execution of law and democratic society. If the massage
has disseminated that the law will be scrutinizing, then and there the journey of accountable
politics has started. The rule of law has been implementing. Democratization of the society has
been started through democratization of law making process. Ultimately, legislative scrutiny is
developing as a appropriate tool of developing democracy. Therefore, political impact of the
legislative scrutiny is most important in every country. It is fact the the whole world are not
suffereing from lack of appropriate laws hut lack of effective implementation of the existing
laws. Effective implementation of laws can be ensure through legislative scrutiny. Finally, the
purpose of the review is to determine whether a law works in practice as intended and, if not, to
find the reason and quickly address it through parliamentary process. Since there is no
requirement for an ex-post law assessment, policymakers and bureaucrats do not have any
systematic evidence of a law's effectiveness and performance.

VI Conclusion
The major task of parliament around the world is to make law, even though time in this job has
not been given. India's world's largest democracy has bitter experiences. In 2009, only 16% of
the total Parliamentary time was spent on legislative business. 27% of the total Bills passed in
the year by Lok Sabha was discussed for less than 5 minutes. Only five Bills passed by the Lok
Sabha in 2009 were debated for more than three hours. This is just another example not different
from other parliaments as well. My conclusion, therefore, is that Parliament has not given the
right time to make laws. The result would be a lack of proper laws and effective implementation
due to less attention paid to the law making business which might have negative effect on legal,

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political and other sectors. Therefore, due consideration must be given to legislative scrutiny for
positive legal and political impact.

VII REFERENCES

Jha, Suman. ‘Government not keeping Opposition on Board’ the Indian Express 15 April 2010,
Retrieved from http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-not-keeping-oppn-on-board-
complains-bjp/606522/0 .

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scrutiny/

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scrutiny/

Retrivedfrom, http://www.prsindia.org/index.php?
name=Sections&id=5&parent_category=&category=60&action=bill_details&bill_id=989

Bylaws of National Assembly. (2018). Kathmandu: Federal Parliament Secretariate.

Devkota, K. (2018). Important of legislative Scrutiny and International Eperiences,Paper

Presented at Conference on Legislative Scrutiny Organised by Legislative Management

Committee, National Assembly, Nepal at Kathmandu November, 2018.

Federal parliament secretariate,Shinhadurbar Kathmandu. (2075). Rules of procedures of

National Assembly.

The Constitution of Nepal. (2015). Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, Ministry of Law and

justice, Law Book Management Committee.

Vrieze, F. D. (2018). Legislative Scrutiny UK,India,Indonesia and France. Westminster

Foundation for Democracy.

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Vrieze, F. D. (2017). Post-legislative Scrutiny Guid for parliaments. London: Westminster

Foundation for Democracy.

Vrieze, F. D. (2018). Principles of Post-Legislative Scrutiny by Parliaments. London: Westminster

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Working Procedure of Legislative Scrutiny. (2018). Kathmandu: Legislative Management

Committee, National Assembly

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