KATHMANDU – Hearing on the writ petitions filed against the dissolution of House of Representatives at the Supreme Court would be conducted on June 6. The date was fixed to conduct the hearing by forming a new constitutional bench after dispute surfaced regarding its formation.
Earlier, Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana, senior-most justice Deepak Kumar Karki and justices—Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha were in the constitutional bench. Chief Justice Rana from the bench said, “Now, the constitutional bench will be formed by determining the justices on the bench on the basis of seniority.”
Though the hearing over the writ petitions filed against the dissolution of HoR was started from Friday, it had not moved ahead focusing on the issue following the row over formation of the bench. Saying justice KC was involved in the hearing over the writ petition against HoR dissolution in recent period and justice Shrestha had made verdict over the name of Nepal Communist Party, law practitioners of writ petitioners had argued that they could not sit in the bench.
Justices—Dr Bhattarai and Karki announced they would not remain in the constitutional bench today itself after KC and Shrestha informed in written that they would not leave the bench. Thirty writ petitions have been registered in the court over this matter. Twenty-six writs including the one filed by a group of 146 members in the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR) demand the restoration of the Lower House and appointment of NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba as the Prime Minister of Nepal.
Similarly, four people including advocates Dhanjeet Basnet, Krishna Ghimire and Rajaram Ghimire reached the court demanding that Prime Minister Oli should be (re) appointed as the Prime Minster as per the Article 76 (5) of the constitution being based on his claim of commanding a majority in the parliament.
The writs seeking the re-appointment of Oli and the elections within the scheduled dates state that President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s May 21 decision not to entertain proposal (claim) to appoint Oli as the Prime Minister is against the Political Parties Act, 2016.
It may be noted that the President refused to entertain the proposals submitted on May 21 by Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, in response her call for the formation of a government under Article 76 (5), staking a claim to the appointment on the Prime Ministerial post, citing that both applications failed to prove of commanding a majority in the parliament.
The majority of writs (26) seek to repeal the President’s May 22 move to dissolve the HoR on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers and announce the fresh (mid-term) polls for November 12 and 19.
