The government has decided to recommend to the President the issuance of two ordinances, including one to amend the Press Council Act, 2048. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Tuesday and was announced by government spokesperson and Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel. The second ordinance recommended to the head of state seeks to amend the Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Act along with some other Nepal Acts. In the same meeting, the Cabinet also decided to extend the deadline for distributing land to tenant farmers, known in Nepali as mohi, a move that affects tenants waiting to receive ownership of the land they cultivate.

The two ordinances recommended to the President

Announcing the outcomes of Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Pokharel said the government has recommended both ordinances to the President. The first would amend the Press Council Act, 2048, the law under which Nepal's statutory press regulator operates, while the second would amend the Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Act and some other Nepal Acts. Alongside the two legislative recommendations, the meeting also produced a decision on land administration, extending the deadline for the distribution of land to tenant farmers.

The decisions were reported by Nepali news outlets including RatoPati and Khabarhub. The three key decisions of the meeting can be summarised as follows:

  • An ordinance to amend the Press Council Act, 2048, recommended to the President
  • An ordinance to amend the Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Act and some other Nepal Acts
  • An extension of the deadline for distributing land to tenant farmers (mohi)

The government has not made the specific provisions of either proposed amendment public in the announcement, leaving the detail of the legal changes to be seen when the texts of the ordinances are issued.

Press Council Act amendment

The Press Council Act, 2048, is the foundational law of the Press Council of Nepal, the statutory body that monitors the country's press, promotes professional ethics among journalists and addresses complaints related to newspapers and other media. Because the Council sits at the centre of Nepal's press regulatory framework, amendments to the law that constitutes it are closely examined by the country's media houses and journalists.

The government has chosen the ordinance route rather than introducing an amendment bill in the Federal Parliament, a path that allows legal changes to be made more quickly but still requires later legislative endorsement. Whether the proposed amendment adjusts the Council's composition, jurisdiction or powers will only become clear once the ordinance is issued and its text is available.

Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Act amendment

The second ordinance concerns the amendment of the Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Act and some other Nepal Acts. The portfolio covers two sectors of major national importance: tourism, one of Nepal's key sources of foreign currency earnings and employment, and civil aviation, which governs the country's air transport industry. Packaging the amendment of the sector's law with changes to certain other Nepal Acts indicates the government intends to make a set of legal adjustments in a single instrument.

As with the Press Council proposal, the announcement did not detail the changes the ordinance would introduce, and the scope of the amendments will be known only from the ordinance itself once the President acts on the recommendation.

Why the government takes the ordinance route

Under Nepal's constitutional system, an ordinance is available to the government when immediate legal action is required and Parliament is not in session. The Council of Ministers recommends the issuance of the ordinance to the President, and once issued, the ordinance carries the same force and effect as an act of Parliament. Its life, however, is temporary. The ordinance must be placed before the Federal Parliament and endorsed by it, and if that approval is not secured, it ceases to operate.

That mechanism allows a government to move quickly between parliamentary sessions, while leaving the final word to the legislature. For the two ordinances recommended on Tuesday, the process now moves to the President. If issued, the amendments will take effect as law, and their provisions will then face the test of parliamentary endorsement when the House next sits. The amendment of the Press Council Act, 2048, will be watched closely within Nepal's media sector, given the Council's central role in press regulation, while the tourism and aviation amendment concerns the legal framework of one of the country's most important industries.

Tenant farmers' land deadline extended

The third decision of Tuesday's meeting concerns land reform. The Cabinet extended the deadline for distributing land to tenant farmers, or mohi. In Nepal, the term mohi refers to tenants who cultivate land belonging to others, a relationship rooted in the country's agrarian history. Land reform programmes pursued over the decades have sought to convert these tenancy arrangements into ownership rights, with the state undertaking the distribution of land to eligible tenants in phases.

By extending the deadline, the government has given the distribution process additional time, affecting tenants across the country who are still awaiting the land allotted to them. The announcement did not specify the revised timeline, and further details of the extension were not provided by the spokesperson.

Taken together, the decisions of the Tuesday meeting combine legislative, media and land administration matters in a single Cabinet session. The two ordinances now await the President's action, the amendments will be scrutinised once their texts are made public, and tenant farmers will follow the extended process for the delivery of the ownership they have been promised under the land reform programme.