Moves are afoot to further slash the few privileges left to the once all-powerful Nepal king, less than a fortnight after parliament drastically cut King Gyanendra's powers, says a report.A committee formed to lay down guidelines for the functioning of the reinstated parliament has come up with a 71-page report that seeks to end all associations between the cornered king and the government, a Nepali weekly reported Wednesday.
Once parliament starts following the guidelines, the powerful red seal of the palace that was earlier required to enact a new law would be discarded. The king would have no role in the appointment of ambassadors and envoys abroad and his consent, even for the sake of form only, would no longer be needed to deploy the army.
Foreign envoys stationed in Nepal would no longer be required to present their accreditation letters to the king at the Narayanhity royal palace, the Jana Aastha weekly said.
Instead of the extravaganza involving reaching the palace in a horse-drawn carriage and having the king sprinkle an expensive perfume on their handkerchiefs, the diplomats would now have to present their accreditation letters at the Prime Minister's Office in a much simpler ceremony.
The tradition of the king addressing parliament before the budget has also been scrapped.
The committee formed of parliamentarians from the seven ruling parties and headed by Narayanman Bijukchhe of the leftist Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, has recommended that the prime minister do the honours instead.
Earlier, a new law could be enacted only after it was sent to the palace following parliament's approval. The king could put his red seal of approval, or send it back for reconsideration. A third option, regularly exercised by the palace, was to simply sit on laws it did not like and effectively bury them.
Now, once parliament has approved of a draft, the speaker can pronounce it a law.
Instead of the king, parliament would now be the appointing authority of the heads of constitutional bodies like the chief justice and chief election commissioner.
The first seeds of change were sown last month after a nationwide protest against King Gyanendra's authoritarian rule forced him to step down.
The new government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala departed from tradition by dispensing with the king during the oath-taking of the new ministers, who were sworn in by the prime minister.
This month, heeding the overwhelming public demand for changes, parliament approved of a series of dramatic measures that stripped the king of legal immunity, brought him under the tax net and cut his official links with the army.
It also declared Nepal a secular state from the world's only Hindu kingdom and decided to choose the king's successor, snapping the earlier custom of biological succession.
Continuing the changes, the committee has decided to dispense with the national dress concept. Earlier, it was mandatory to wear the daura suruwal - tight trousers and a long shirt - and the traditional cap at all government programmes as well as events attended by the king.
The committee has been asked to finalise the guidelines by June 4, the weekly said. Ironically, that's the day when five years ago Prince Gyanendra was sworn in as the king of Nepal following the assassination of his elder brother, King Birendra and all male members of Birendra's family.
The new changes come even as finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat is proposing to slash the king's allowances drastically in the new budget, to be tabled next month.
The new budget plans to reduce royal allowances to Nepali Rs.200 million from the current Nepali Rs.750 million, the Himalayan Times daily said Wednesday.
(IANS)
