KATHMANDU: Failure of bringing regulations related to right to housing has made it difficult to implement the Right to Housing Act, 2018, that was issued three years ago. Resultantly, people have been deprived of their right to housing.

Legal hurdles in the absence of regulations have made the matter worse, it has been said. Efforts were underway to table the drafted regulations at the Ministry of Urban Development before presenting them at the Cabinet, said the ministry’s Spokesperson Bishnu Prasad Sharma. The Department of Urban Development and Building Construction has assisted in this regard, he said.

It took long to prepare the draft due to the lockdown and restrictions imposed to stem the COVID-19 and change of the minister, Spokesperson Sharma said. The regulations has been drafted under the coordination of the chief of the Housing, Building and Planning Section at the Ministry.

The work of taking approval from the Ministries concerned like the Ministry of Law, the Ministry of Finance, among other ministries, has been over. The right to housing has been enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal, 2015, as a fundamental right of the citizen.

Advocate Raju Prasad Chapagain, who is working in the sector of right to housing, said the regulation would clarify several work procedures and make the implementation aspect of the Act easier. “The implementation of this fundamental right (the right to housing) has been impeded in the absence of the related regulations despite the passage of the Act since three years. It is regrettable that the regulations have not been enacted yet though three years have passed by since the Act was enacted,” he said.

According to him, one cannot knock the Supreme Court or the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)’s door for the protection of one’s right to housing due to the absence of the regulations. The Ministry has implemented several programs for the execution of the right to housing.

The People’s Housing Program, which was implemented by the Ministry in the past, is now being implemented by the provincial governments since Fiscal Year 2019/20. Similarly, the Ministry said the Safe Citizen Housing Program and the Integrated Settlement Development Program are also in the implementation phase.

The Integrated Settlement Development Program was implemented since Fiscal Year 2019/20 with the objective of developing integrated settlement each in Rasuwa, Kaski, Kapilbastu, Jajarkot, Banke, Udayapur and Saptari.