The parliament meeting obstructed thrice before and rescheduled for 3 pm today has been obstructed yet again following the objection of the major opposition party. Speaker of the House Onsari Gharti announced the meeting of the parliament was adjournment until Tuesday morning. With the announcement, the next Legislature-Parliament shall meet on Tuesday at 11:00 am. The major opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has been demanding a probe into the leakage of budget information before its presentation at the parliament on May 28. The budget estimates for fiscal year 2016/017 amounting to Rs 1.048 trillion was tabled in the parliament by Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel. NC claimed that the vital information related to budget were however leaked a day before the formal announcement which is against the norms of Legislature-Parliament. NC parliaments took the stance that the Legislature-Parliament should not proceed with its business until an inquiry was carried out on the incident. Parliamentarian Ishowri Poudel termed the act as an underestimation of the jurisdiction of the sovereign Legislature-Parliament. Speaker Gharti repeatedly asked the opposition’s parliamentarians to be seated in their respective place so as to carry on the parliament’s business but they continued with their objection, resulting in the adjournment of the parliament meeting until Tuesday morning. They cited an incident in the UK where one of its Finance Ministers had to render his resignation for leaking vital information related to budget 20 minutes before the formal announcement. A proposal seeking a theoretical discussion on the budget estimates was scheduled to be presented at the Legislature- Parliament by Finance Minister today but owing to reservations of the major opposition several times, the parliament meeting has been adjourned.
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