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(Updated) Accused of conflicting interest, Justice Karki to leave constitutional bench hearing House dissolution case

File: Justice Hari Krishna Karki
File: Justice Hari Krishna Karki

Kathmandu, January 6

Supreme Court Justice Hari Krishna Karki has announced that he does not be a part of the constitutional bench that is currently hearing the case against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives.

Earlier, advocates speaking on behalf of the petitioners had claimed his presence on the bench amounted to a conflict of interest.

Karki was the attorney general when Oli, a defendant of the case, was the prime minister for the first time.

(Updated at 03:10 pm)

House dissolution debate: Despite charges of conflict of interest, CJ Rana retains constitutional bench

Kathmandu, January 6

Amid criticisms that including Justice Hari Krishna Karki on the constitutional bench that is hearing the case against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives amounted to a conflict of interest, Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana did not make any changes in the composition of the bench as the court began the final hearing on the case today.

During the hearing on December 25, senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi had said Karki should not be there as he was once the attorney general when Oli, a defendant of the case, was the prime minister. “He should not sit on this bench as it involves a conflict of interest,” he had said. Following that, several media outlets had also raised the issue.

Consequently, Rana was under pressure to replace Karki with someone else. However, as the hearing began today, Karki, Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Anil Kumar Sinha, and Tej Bahadur KC have been named for the bench led by Rana.

Meanwhile, some experts had also demanded that the court should form a full bench to hear the case considering its seriousness. But, Rana also did not heed that.

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