Division of Powers in Nepal's Federalism: Schedules 5-9 Explained

The Constitution of Nepal, promulgated on 20 September 2015, established a federal democratic republic with three tiers of government: one federal (central) government, seven provinces, and 753 local units (460 rural municipalities and 293 urban municipalities). Each tier is given its own sphere of constitutionally guaranteed authority, combining self-rule with shared rule.

The specific functions of each level are listed in five schedules attached to the Constitution. Article 57 (Distribution of State Power) ties these schedules to the three tiers: the powers of the Federation are vested in the matters in Schedule 5, those of a province in Schedule 6, and those of a local level in Schedule 8. Schedule 7 lists powers shared concurrently by the Federation and the provinces, while Schedule 9 lists powers shared concurrently by all three levels together.

Reading the five schedules side by side gives a single tier-comparison view of 'who does what' in Nepalese governance, from national defence at the top to neighbourhood services at the bottom.

Schedule 5 reserves matters of national scope and sovereignty for the federal government alone. These are the functions that, by their nature, must be handled uniformly across the whole country.

Typical examples include defence and the military, foreign and diplomatic affairs, and macroeconomic policy. The federal level also exercises any 'residual' power: under Article 58, any matter not listed in Schedules 5, 6, 8, 7 or 9, or not otherwise specified in the Constitution, rests with the Federation.

Schedule 6 lists 21 matters that belong to the provincial (state) level. These functions cover governance and services that are best organised at the provincial scale, sitting between national policy and purely local delivery.

Provinces run their own police administration, civil service, and Public Service Commission, and legislate through the Provincial Assembly. They also manage province-wide infrastructure and institutions such as state highways and state universities.

Schedule 8 grants 22 exclusive functions to the local level - the rural and urban municipalities closest to citizens. These cover the everyday public services people interact with most directly.

Classic local-tier examples are basic and secondary education, basic health and sanitation, and local roads. Local laws on these matters are made by the Village Assembly or Municipal Assembly.

Some subjects cannot be neatly owned by a single tier, so the Constitution makes them concurrent. Schedule 7 lists 25 matters shared by the Federation and the provinces, while Schedule 9 lists 15 matters shared by the Federation, provinces and local levels together.

Where powers overlap, the Constitution sets a clear hierarchy. Provincial and local laws must not be inconsistent with federal law; where they are, they are void to the extent of the inconsistency. Likewise, a local law inconsistent with provincial law is void to that extent. In practice, on Schedule 9 subjects a province may legislate where no federal law exists, and a local level where neither federal nor provincial law exists.

To work out which government is responsible for a task, start by checking the exclusive lists: if the subject is in Schedule 5 it is federal, in Schedule 6 it is provincial, and in Schedule 8 it is local. If it is not on any exclusive list, check the concurrent lists - Schedule 7 (federal and provincial) and Schedule 9 (all three). If it appears nowhere, the residual-powers rule of Article 58 places it with the Federation.

The schedules are deliberately broad, so detailed 'unbundling' work has been done to assign specific sub-functions to each tier and reduce overlap. Coordination among the levels is governed by separate legislation, including the Inter-Governmental Fiscal Arrangement Act and the Federation, Province and Local Level (Coordination and Inter-relation) Act. The schedules themselves, however, remain the constitutional starting point for every question about the division of powers in Nepal.