KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim order not carry on with the hearing of the Constitutional Bench in the absence of Chief Justice.
A single bench of Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal issued the order Thursday in relation to a writ filed by Advocate Ganesh Regmi, in which Regmi argued presence of Chief Justice was mandatory in the Constitutional Bench.
But advocate Deepak Bikram Mishra had filed a writ petition demanding Chief Justice be excluded from the Constitutional Bench, citing conflict of interest due to his involvement.
In Mishra’s writ, Justice Phuyal ordered a show cause notice Thursday.
Regmi and Mishra’s writs were filed following a controversy in another writ filed by advocates Dinesh Tripathi and Om Prakash Aryal against ordinance on Constitutional Council and subsequent appointments to various constitutional bodies. Tripathi and Aryal had named Chief Justice Cholendra Rana as defendant in their writ.
With today’s SC order in relation to Regmi’s writ, the hearing of the Constitutional Bench scheduled for Friday, where CJ Rana was expected to recuse himself, has been halted until the issue is resolved.
On the basis of the CC ordinance, meetings of the CC, which has CJ Rana as member, had recommended appointments of more than 50 office bearers to various constitutional bodies in December 2020 and April 2021.
During the hearing of the writ petition against the CC ordinance and subsequent appointments last Friday, petitioners Advocate Dinesh Tripathi and Om Prakash Aryal had suggested that Chief Justice Rana should be dismissed from the Constitutional Bench as he could not look into the matter due to the conflict of interest. Following the argument, the hearing had been postponed and was scheduled for Friday.
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