KATHMANDU: The hearing on the case filed at the Supreme Court of Nepal demanding reinstatement of dissolved House of Representatives (HoR) continued today, the eight consecutive day of the hearing. It ended for today with a decision to continue tomorrow.
The constitutional bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana and judges—Bishwombhar Prasad Shrestha, Anil Kumar Sinha, Sapana Malla and Tej Bahadur KC has been hearing the case on the main issue since January 17.
Today, senior advocate Shambhu Thapa and advocate Meghraj Pokharel presented their arguments in favour of the writ petitioners.
On the occasion, senior advocate Thapa argued that the Constitution of Nepal has no provision of dissolving the House of Representatives. “We all are reading the same constitution, including the justices. But we cannot find any such constitutional provision to dissolve the House of Representatives by the Prime Minister. It’s not fair to change voices in times.”
Taking part in the hearing on the behalf of HoR members—Dev Prasad Gurung, Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, Ram Kumari Jhakri and Shashi Shrestha, he said that the announcement of HoR dissolution was against the Constitution.
Similarly, advocate Pokharel mentioned that there was no constitutional basis to dissolve the HoR.
On behalf of the writ petitioners, a total of 43 advocates, have taken part in hearing so far.
In many occassions, the Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher JB Rana repeatedly asked the lawyers, “If the sitting prime minister holds majority, how can we form another government?”
In response, senior advocate Thapa argued that the parliament has already voted for the prime minister, and he cannot dissolve the House. He said, “It’s not the duty of the apex court to seek a new prime minister.”
In previous deliberations, the advocates had pleaded for the test of prime minister at the parliamentary floor.
