Supreme Court issues show cause order on decision to dissolve parliament

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a show-cause order against the government’s decision to dissolve the parliament.

The Constitutional Bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana has ordered the government to submit the original copy of the decision of the Council of Ministers regarding the dissolution of the Parliament, the original copy of the decision of the President, and the necessary documents related to the Parliament.

The apex court has also asked for amicus curiae from the Nepal Bar Association (NBA) and the Supreme Court Bar Association over the writ petition.

The bench has ordered the government to submit a response in written by January 3, 2021.

The Constitutional Bench has Justices Bishwombhar Prasad Shrestha, Hari Krishna Karki, Anil Kumar Sinha, and Tej Bahadur KC as members.

The Bench started hearing 13 writ petitions filed at the apex court against the HoR dissolution from today. It will give a final verdict on the issue of whether the HoR dissolution was in line with the constitution or not.

Earlier on Wednesday, hearing the 12 writ petitions filed against the dissolution of the HoR, a single bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana referred all cases to the Constitutional Bench without issuing a stay order on the government’s decision on HoR dissolution.

The writs were registered at the Supreme Court against the decision naming the Office of the President, Office of the Prime Minister, and the Council of Ministers and House Speaker as defendants.

The writs registered so far to this effect have demanded revoking all the decisions and actions carried out in regard to the dissolution of the HoR as per Article 133 (2 and 3) of the Nepal Constitution. There are a total of 13 writ petitions registered on the Constitutional Bench.

It may be noted that President Bidya Bhandari had dissolved the HoR on the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

What is amicus curiae?

Amicus Curiae is a Latin term for “friend of the court”. Whenever a person or group who is not a party to an action, but has a strong interest in the matter, petitions the court for permission to submit a brief in the action with the intent of influencing the court’s decision, the court permits them to do so.

This authority offering help to the court is known as amicus curiae.