His Majesty The King graced the closing ceremony of the third session of the third Parliament today. Parliamentarians offered Tashi Moelam and Tashi Khadar to His Majesty The King.
The third session of the Parliament was discontinued on March 6 due to Coronavirus and had resumed on June 1.
During the third session, the National Assembly endorsed the budget for 2020-21 with the Budget Appropriation Bill 2020-21, amounting to nearly Nu 74B. The house also endorsed the Supplementary Budget Appropriation Bill 2019-20, amounting to more than Nu 1B.
Addressing the Parliament, National Assembly Speaker Wangchuk Namgyel said that during the session the house saw deliberations on eight financial amendment bills and also deliberated on the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan and Civil and Criminal Procedural Code (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan. However, as a mutual consensus could not be reached between the two houses, the bills will be deliberated during the joint sitting of the Parliament.
The Speaker also stated that the Mines and Minerals Bill of Bhutan, two ordinary bills, and two conventions were deliberated and referred to the National Council. The Annual Audit Report 2018 and Performance Audit reports from 2010-2017 of the Royal Audit Authority were deliberated during a joint sitting.
Meanwhile, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill has been deferred and the Impeachment Procedure Bill of Bhutan and the Minister and Minister Equivalent Post Holder’s Entitlement Bill of Bhutan were not deliberated in the National Assembly during this session.
Sangay Chezom/Tshering Zam