Kathmandu, Februation 23
Nepal’s Supreme Court has reinstated the House of Representatives, the lower house of the bicameral parliament, by quashing a decision of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Concluding the two-month-long hearing, a constitutional bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana issued the verdict on Tuesday late afternoon.
The bench consisting of CJ Rana and justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Anil Kumar Sinha, Sapana Pradhan Malla, and Tej Bahadur KC has ordered the government to summon the House session within 13 days of today. It has been learned that all the justices were on the same page about the unconstitutionality of Oli’s decision.
The mandamus reads the order needs to be implemented immediately, adding the full text of the verdict will be published later.
The court was hearing 13 writ petitions filed against the decision. Although the hearing about the constitutionality of the decision made on December 20, 2020, had begun on December 25, the bench spent weeks to decide whether the five-member constitutional bench would hear it or a new extended full bench is formed. The actual debate on the legitimacy of the case had begun on January 17 only.
After the petitioners presented their arguments, the government attorneys and advocates hired by the defendants defended the decision since February 1. Then, five amicus curiae sent by the Nepal Bar Association also expressed their views until last week.
