NC, ML MET TO DISCUSS ELECTION GOVT. Kathmandu, 12 Feb.: Central committees of the opposition NC and UML meet separately Tuesday to discuss an election government Tuesday. They will later discuss the issue with President Dr. Ram, Baran Yadan A meeting Monday was inconclusive Monday. Maoists have floated a controversial proposal to appoint an election government headed by the chief justice. opposed by lawyers. Nnnn . HIMLAYAN CLUB.SAHARA CCUB PLAY IN SIMALA Kathmandu, 12 Feb.: Himalayan Sherpa plays Sahara Club of Pokhara in the semi-final of the 4th Sumara Goold Cup Tuesday. Shankata qualiofied for the semi-final Monnday. nnnn LAWYERS AGAINST GOVT. LED BY CJ Kathmandu, 12 Feb.:: Constitutional experts have urged President Dr Ram Baran Yadav not to proceed with the proposal for forming a new government led by the sitting chief justice, as proposed by the UCPN(Maoist), Republica reKathmandu, 12 Feb.: Thy expressed grave concern over the proposal at a meeting with the president at the latter´s office at Sital Niwas, Monday afternoon. According to Hari Krishna Karki, newly-elected chairman of Nepal Bar Association (NBA), who was present at the meeting, the president said in response that he would fulfill his responsibility in accordance with the interim constitution. “What I can say is that I will perform my responsibility, remaining within my constitutional jurisdiction,” Karki quoted Dr Yadav as saying at the meeting. It may be recalled that the proposal to appoint the chief justice as prime minister is contingent on first amending the interim constitution. Earlier, organizing a press conference in the capital, legal and constitutional experts expressed strong exception to the proposal of forming a new government led by Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi. Addressing the press conference, NBA Chairman Karki stated that the proposal cannot be acceptable in a country where there is rule of law. Constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya termed the proposal a huge mockery of the interim constitution. “What will happen to the established principles of law and constitution if political parties keep doing such things?” he asked. Vice-chairman of Nepal Bar Association (NBA) Tikaram Bhattarai said that the UCPN(Maoist) move is a serious development. “It shows that democracy is going beyond the control of the political parties. The interim constitution has not envisioned this,” he maintained. NBA General Secretary Sunil Pokhrel said that forming a government led by the sitting chief justice is against the principle of separation of powers. According to Article 106 (1) of the Interim Constitution, the chief justice or a justice of the Supreme Court cannot be engaged in or deputed to any assignment other than that of judge, provided that the Government of Nepal may, in consultation with the Judicial Council, depute the Chief Justice or any justice of the Supreme Court to work concerning a judicial inquiry, or to legal or judicial investigation or research, or to any other work of national concern, for a specified perio nnnn 4000 POORLY RUN SCHOOLS FAVE MERGER Kathmandu, 12 Feb.:The Ministry of Education (MoE) is likely to adopt a policy of merging those private and boarding schools which lack adequate infrastructure to attract students, Niiranjan Sharma writes in Republica.. Of the total 10,000 private and boarding schools across the country, around 4000 or 40 percent would get merged after the Private and Boarding School Regulation gets finalized. The policy would mainly target schools registered after 2005, said Suprabhat Bhandari, chairman of the Guardians´ Association of Nepal. The Private and Boarding School Association of Nepal (PABSON) Chairman Baburam Pokhrel said that the schools that have been graded as “D” by the Department of Education (DoE) would be merged with other schools that are better off as discussed at the MoE on Monday. “Though the guardian association proposed to scrap licenses of such schools which are currently defunct, we have proposed three models to revive such schools,” Pokhrel said, adding, “Two to five schools can be merged together for their sustainability. Forty percent of the schools would get merged after the regulation comes into effect.” He added that the discussion was also focused on giving a chance to the poor schools to find corporate partners so that they can upgrade themselves to at least “C”. Similarly, some from the private sector have asked the government to allocate certain incentives for the sustainability of such schools. To check the mushrooming of private schools, the District Education Offices across the country, including in the Valley, have already decided to reject registration of new schools. The MoE had called the representative of PABSON, N-PABSON, guardian association and the district education officers for the final discussion before endorsing the regulation. The new regulation authorizes the District Education Offices to deal with the merging process. The draft policy has already finalized that the private schools can´t spend more than Rs 500,000 on advertisements. Similarly, the private school buildings need to be approved by the government agencies responsible to ensure that the buildings follow all the codes. Private and boarding schools can be run in their own buildings, or on a rent with at least five-year lease agreement. Similarly, the schools must ensure separate rooms for school staff, administration, accounts, library, school hall, stores and laboratory. Meanwhile, the government has found as many as 260,000 fake students produced by community schools to receive more incentives from government. Such schools are in the records of the DoE, but they have not operated classes till date. Nnnn