Kathmandu, October 29
The Supreme Court has formed a five-member Constitutional Bench to hear petitions filed against the dissolution of the House of Representatives and the appointment of former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as interim Prime Minister.
The bench comprises Chief Justice Prakashman Singh Raut and Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Hari Prasad Phuyal, and Manoj Kumar Sharma. This bench will begin hearings on a series of constitutional writs challenging recent political developments following the Gen-Z movement.
According to Supreme Court spokesperson Arjun Koirala, the Constitutional Bench will conduct a joint hearing on 16 petitions on Wednesday. The hearings will take place in the old chamber of the court’s annex building, which sustained minor fire damage during last month’s protest and has been refurnished for use.
The petitions raise four major constitutional questions the legality of the President’s appointment of a non-parliamentarian as Prime Minister, the constitutionality of the House dissolution, the propriety of appointing former justices to executive positions, and calls for legal action against former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak for their alleged role in suppressing the Gen-Z movement.
Petitioners argue that President Ramchandra Paudel acted unconstitutionally by appointing former Chief Justice Karki under Article 61 of the Constitution, which defines the President’s role but does not authorise the appointment of a Prime Minister. They further claim that Karki’s subsequent decision to dissolve the House violated Article 76(7), which only permits dissolution when no government formation is possible within the parliamentary process.
Several writs also contend that Karki and former Supreme Court Justice Anil Kumar Sinha, who now serves as Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Law, breached Article 132 of the Constitution, which bars former justices from holding executive office.
In addition, some petitions demand action against former PM Oli and former Home Minister Lekhak for their involvement in the suppression of Gen-Z protesters prior to the interim government’s formation.
The bench formation itself has drawn attention, as Chief Justice Raut directly selected the four accompanying justices instead of using the rotational seniority system traditionally followed in constitutional benches. This approach comes after disputes over bench composition during earlier House dissolution cases under former Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana.
The Constitutional Bench is expected to decide on whether to issue an interim order against the government formed under Karki’s leadership. The decision will depend on whether the court deems the matter urgent and finds that failure to act could cause irreparable harm, as the government has already been functioning for over six weeks and elections have been scheduled within the next four and a half months.
The hearing on the petitions filed against the dissolution of the House of Representatives is set to begin today at the Constitutional Bench.
