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12th Sitting of the 28th Session of the National Council of Bhutan

The 12th Sitting of the National Council (NC) commenced with the re-deliberation of  the Civil Society Organizations (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2021. The House also adopted the final recommendations on the various legislation and policies reviews as proposed by the respective Committees.

Hon’ble Phuntsho Rapten, Chairperson of the Legislative Committee (LC), presented the CSO (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2021 for re-deliberation. He reported that the Bill was thoroughly reviewed and passed in the 27th Session of the NC and forwarded to the National Assembly. The National Assembly adopted the Bill in the ongoing session (6th Session of the 3rd Parliament) and forwarded the Bill to the NC with amendments on sixty-three  provisions. 

The House deliberated on the sixty-three provisions as proposed by the Committee. While the House adopted thirty-nine provisions as per NA amendments, the two Houses could not come into consensus on twenty-four provisions.  The Bill shall now be submitted to His Majesty The King to seek approval for a Joint Sitting of the Parliament on the disputed provisions. 

Hon’ble Member Dhan Kumar Sunwar, representing the LC, presented four recommendations related to Consolidation, Repeal and Publication of Legislations for adoption.  With the raise of hands, the House approved all the recommendations as proposed by the Committee.

The House unanimously adopted the recommendations with all the 22 members present voting for the proposal.

Hon’ble Member Surjaman Thapa, the Chairperson of the Good Governance Committee, reported on the works of the Committee on reviewing the Anti-Corruption Commission Report 2020-2021 and proposed 4 recommendations to the House. With the show of hands the House approved each recommendation and unanimously adopted the recommendation with all the 22 members present  voting for it. 

Hon’ble Member Tirtha Man Rai, Chairperson of the Natural Resources and Environment Committee, proposed five recommendations  on the Review report of the State-Owned Enterprises under the Ministry of Finance to the House. With the show of hands, the House approved the recommendations of the Committee and unanimously adopted the recommendations with the 22 members present voting. 

Similarly, on behalf of the Social and Cultural Affairs Committee, Hon’ble Member Lhaki Dolma, Chairperson to the Committee, presented nine recommendations to the House for adoption. Approving each recommendation with the show of hands, the House adopted the nine recommendations with 21 ‘YES’ and 1 ‘ABSTAIN’ of the 22 members present voting. 

All the recommendations will be forwarded to the Government for implementation.

Tomorrow, there will be a Joint Sitting of the Parliament at the National Assembly.