Kathmandu, June 3: The Ministry of Finance has published a revised version of the Economic Bill after removing 16 pages from the version that had already been registered in Parliament, triggering questions over the legality of the changes.
Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle tabled the Economic Bill on May 29. The version submitted to Parliament contained 464 pages. However, the version later uploaded to the ministry’s website contains only 448 pages.
According to reports, the revised bill includes changes to tax-related provisions, creating differences between the document registered in Parliament and the version currently available on the ministry’s website.
Parliamentary experts say any amendment to a bill already registered in Parliament requires parliamentary approval.
Former Parliament Secretariat Secretary Som Bahadur Thapa said corrections to provisions in the Economic Bill should first be introduced through a formal amendment process in Parliament.
“Once a bill has been tabled in Parliament, the Ministry of Finance has no legal authority to alter it on its own,” he said, adding that changes involving tax rates would be particularly serious.
The Nepali Congress has said it is studying the matter.
Chief Whip Basana Thapa said the party’s preliminary assessment is that altering provisions of a bill already registered in Parliament could amount to a serious financial and legal offense.
“We are examining the issue. Our initial understanding is that document tampering may have occurred,” Thapa said. “Tax rates appear to have been changed arbitrarily while bypassing Parliament. We will raise the issue in the House. It appears to be a matter of serious wrongdoing against the state.”
She added that the party is preparing an official position before deciding its next steps.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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