KATHMANDU – The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court has issued a show-cause notice to the government over the dissolution of the House of Representatives.
Following a hearing of petitioners, the five-member Constitutional Bench headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana today ordered the government to submit a written clarification on why the House was dissolved.
Other members in the bench include Hari Krishna Karki, Biswombhar Shrestha, Anil Kumar Sinha and Tej Bahadur KC.
Responding to nearly a dozen writ petitions challenging the government’s move to dissolve the parliament, the Constitutional Bench directed the defendants to furnish a written clarification for the dissolution of the House by January 3 next year.
The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and Office of the President are the defendants in the case.Similarly, the Constitutional Bench also decided to seek the original copy of cabinet decision to recommend the President to dissolve the House, the original copy of the President’s decision to dissolve the House and details including the number of members in the House.
Earlier on Wednesday, a single bench of Rana at the Supreme Court had forwarded 12 petitions against the government move at the Constitutional Bench on Wednesday.
Nearly half a dozen lawyers had moved to the apex court demanding the annulment of the government decision to dissolve the parliament and set dates for midterm election.
Senior advocates Dinesh Tripathi, Kanchan Krishna Neupane and Lokendra Bahadur Oli had filed the writ petition immediately after the President Bidya Devi Bhandari, upon the government’s recommendation, dissolved the HoR and set the new date for midterm election on Sunday.
Similarly, the ruling Nepal Communist Party’s Chief Whip Dev Bahadur Gurung had also filed the writ seeking the court’s intervention to overturn the government’s decision. The petitioners have argued that the government does not have a constitutional and legal right to dissolve the HoR.
