Kathmandu (Pahichan) April 6 – Dr. Laxmiraj Pathak, who headed a government committee formed to recommend ways for legalizing same-sex marriage, has said that it is unfortunate that government report has not been implemented. Pathak said that non-implementation of the report would not beneficial for the country as well.

“We consulted with top Sanskrit intellectuals of Balmiki Campus and they requested us to legalize same-sex marriage. It is a turning point of us because it helped us to build confidence,” he said, adding that they also consulted with professor of Padma Kanya campus which also helped to enhance their confidence. Pathak said they also knocked the doors of individual people seeking their suggestions on the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriage.

“However, government has not invested for this committee but government officials have invested their study and efforts,” he added, asserting that there are not any confusions and problems in the report.  He expressed a doubt over government’s intention about the implementation of this report. Pathak, former secretary, said that there is a tendency in bureaucracy not to give credits to others and the report could have been the victims of such tendencies.

He said a network of mafia is creating an obstacle in implementing same-sex marriage.  According to him, there is separate allocation of responsibilities for the members of this community. Pathak said there were divergent point of views among the members of committee but those differences were gradually bridged after the intensive discussions and study.

Advocate Sujan Panta said government is losing a great opportunity of implementing the historic report on same-sex marriage. “There was no need of separate law for legalizing same-sex marriage, the civil code could have paved the way if it was defined that marriage is between two people who are eligible to marry in terms of age,” Panta said. Panta said Chief Secretary can move a proposal in the cabinet for the implementation of report.

After roaming in different ministries, the report has landed at Ministry of Women, Children and Social welfare, Panta said.  Though, the report is very clear about the concept of same-sex marriage, Ministry is seeking other concepts, said Panta.