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Nepal scraps King's powers

King Gyanendra

KATHMANDU: The Nepali Parliament's State Affairs Committee (SAC) has decided to scrap the terminology ``His Majesty'' from the Bill on Approving Public Document and deprived the King from the power of approving public documents.

Wednesday's meeting of the SAC took the decision to remove the terminology from the bill, saying it will not affect the functioning of the act. The bill had given the right to approve public documents to ``His Majesty''. After the bill is passed by Parliament, any person appointed by the Nepali Government will have the authority of approving the public documents. Earlier, the meeting of the committee adjourned twice following dispute among lawmakers on whether to allow the King the right to verify public documents or not. In previous meetings, Nepali Congress and Nepali Congress (Democratic) leaders proposed going with the ``Head of the State,'' but Leftist lawmakers strongly opposed it, demanding definition of the term, if it was to be used to replace the term ``His Majesty''.

The amended act presented by Law Minister Narendra Bikram Nemwang before Parliament earlier sparked criticism and was referred to the SAC after the bill had given the right to approve public documents to ``His Majesty."

Meanwhile, the chairman of the SAC, Hridaya Ram Thani, told reporters that henceforth the credentials of the foreign diplomats will be received by the person appointed by the Government of Nepal.

He said the person could be the Prime Minister, Chief Secretary or Speaker. ``This has scrapped all powers vested in the King making him a citizen of the country,'' Mr. Thani said.

He, however, said the King will still be the Head of the State even after this amendment.

Xinhua

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