Bhutan Birding and Heritage Travels

30 July, 2009 - The parliament late last night resolved that it would request His Majesty the King for a special session starting August 17 after the two “urgent” bills, the Local Government Bill and the Civil Service Bill, 2009, were held up.

The LG Bill could not pass after the joint sitting failed to secure two-thirds majority by a single vote. 44 parliamentarians voted to pass the bill, while 23 voted against.

While the LG bill could not get the required votes due to differences on around six points, the civil service bill was characterised by confusion, as some contradicting points were resolved with a simple majority.

For example, while the joint sitting, in the beginning, resolved that sections in the ACC, Audit and Election Acts regarding their control over civil servants would be repealed by the Civil Service Act, another section, giving the same authority to the constitutional bodies, was passed by a simple majority in contradiction to the earlier decision.

This confusion and differences over the jurisdiction of RCSC over the judiciary and constitutional bodies led to the prime minister stating that he could not support the civil service bill in its final form.

The prime minister and Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk said that RCSC would have jurisdiction only over civil servants under the executive, if other constitutional bodies were not involved.

Lyonchhoen said that, hearing the discussion, it would seem that many MPs had not done their research and homework and there was confusion. He said that, by removing sections like consulting with RCSC before taking a civil servant to court, would weaken RCSC and the civil service.

Meanwhile, the house was concerned with the immediate implications that, without a local government act, the local government elections could be postponed.

The prime minister said, “It’s very sad that the bill couldn’t go through and it’ll affect the local government elections, developmental works and also democracy.”

He said that now the way forward was to re-discuss it soon or in the next session.

Gasa MP Damcho Dorji said, “The reason the bill got drafted was that it wasn’t at one with constitutional requirements and also did not have the concept of equity and justice over the thromdes.”

Before the vote, opposition leader Tshering Tobgay raised fears of weakening the local government, reasoning that the local government bill had a provision to dissolve it if one two-third of the members resign. He said that the LG Bill had not incorporated the constitutional requirement to have one thromde town in every dzongkhag and that the bill may be impinging on the land commission.

The National Council MP Karma Y Raydi said, “We shouldn’t be changing the Land Act 2007 through the Local Government Act, otherwise it’ll set a precedent, but it should be done separately when the Land Act 2007 comes up for discussion.” Karma Y Raydi also raised doubts over the fact that the local government could sell land to raise funds.

NC member from Haa, Tshering Dorjee, said that, to have equitable development and with rural urban migration, it was important to develop towns, so every dzongkhag must have a town. Another argument raised against the bill was that thromdes could get directions from the ministry of works and human settlement.

In contrast, the NA MP from Zhemgang said that it was not economically feasible and viable to have towns in every dzongkhag, since the town of Tingtibi in his own dzongkhag was a ghost town.

The ministry of works and human settlement minister Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba supported this, saying that establishing a thromde in every dzongkhag will not be viable, since even most of the limited shopkeepers in these dzongkhags have their census in other dzongkhags.

He however said that, as a compromise, though the government could not have one thromde in every dzongkhag, they would come out with specification requirements to develop a thromde in the next session.

He also said that changes were needed in the local government act, superseding some points in the Land Act 2007, since 60 to 70 percent of the thromde’s work was related to land, and that it would not be possible for the thromde to function effectively if every land issue went to the land commission.

Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said, “The governments policy, as per GNHC, is to have people staying in their villages with social harmony undisturbed and that is why we’re providing roads, electricity and other facilities like tourism, industry and economic development in the villages itself.”

The session will also discuss the constitutional post holders bill. Meanwhile, the Prison Act and the Waste Management Act was passed with minor changes.