KATHMANDU: Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana has termed the ordinance on the Constitutional Council issued on the recommendation of the KP Oli government last December and the appointments made on the basis of it as constitutional.
Sending a written reply to the Supreme Court through the office of Attorney General on Sunday, CJ Rana said the government could issue the ordinance when the federal parliament was not in session, adding that it could not be held unconstitutional. He made the claim in a written reply to the Supreme Court as a member of the Constitutional Council.
“Everyone has a constitutional duty to abide by the provisions of the constitution,” he wrote in his reply to the Supreme Court, “As the issues raised by the petitioner (Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota) regarding the ordinance issued under the constitution can be considered by the federal parliament and necessary decisions can be made, it is not rational to argue that the activities done based on the ordinances issued constitutionally are unconstitutional.”
He defended the work of the Constitutional Council while sending a written reply to the writ petition filed by Speaker Sapkota and Nishant Babu Khadka.
Chief Justice Rana tried to justify the appointments made based on the ordinances issued under Oli-led government on three grounds: a. there is a constitutional provision to issue an ordinance if something urgent needs to be done in the absence of a session of both houses of the federal parliament; b. the ordinance was issued citing the urgency of the nature of the works to be done and, c. the ordinances were issued by the President on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers and have gone through due legal process.
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