Upendra Yadav wrongly claims consent of all provinces is needed to alter boundaries of any provinces

Sujit Mainali / January 27, 2017

Upendra Yadav, chairman of Federal Socialist Forum Nepal                   Photo: HimalayaTV/youtube

Speaking at a function organized in Kathmandu on January 24, Upendra Yadav, the chairman of the Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal said the following:

“They have put in Article 274 in the constitution which says the boundary of a province cannot be changed without the approval of the legislative assemblies of all the provinces…This is against the spirit of federalism. Recently, when the Indian state of Jharkhand separated from Bihar, Maharastra and Punjab states were not consulted.”  

According to Chairman Yadav, Article 274 of the constitution has made it compulsory to secure approval from all the provinces before altering the boundaries of any provinces.

South Asia Check has examined whether this statement is fact-based or not.

Article 274 of the constitution has provisions regarding constitution amendment.

According to the Clause 4 and 5 of Article 274, Federal Parliament alone cannot endorse amendment bill related with the alteration of the boundary of a province.

Clause 4 states that if the amendment bill is related to the alteration in the border of any province, the speaker or the chairperson of the concerned House must send that Bill to the provincial assembly for its consent, within thirty days after its introduction in the Federal Parliament.

Clause 5 further states that the concerned provincial assembly must, by a majority of the total number of its the then members, accept or reject the Bill presented for its consent and give information thereof to the Federal Parliament within three months. But if any provincial assembly is not in existence, such Bill must be either accepted or rejected within three months after the date of holding of the first meeting following the formation of that provincial assembly.

This means that the bill related to the alteration of the boundary of a province should be endorsed by the concerned province(s), besides the Federal Parliament.

Therefore, Yadav is wrong in saying that Article 274 of the constitution has made it compulsory to secure approval from all the provinces before altering the boundaries of any provinces.

This material is copyrighted but may be used for any purpose by giving due credit to southasiacheck.org.

Comments