KATHMANDU: Writ petitioners have demanded to produce the record of the discussion in the Constituent Assembly during the Constitutional Bench’s hearing of the case against the dissolution of the House.
Taking part in Sunday’s hearing in the case against the dissolution of the House of Representatives, writ petitioners have demanded to produce the record of the Constituent Assembly where lawmakers had discussed the issue relating to granting or not granting the right of dissolution of HoR to the Prime Minister.
Responding to the demand of senior advocate and writ petitioner Dinesh Tripathi, Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana replied that the concern expressed by the petitioner has been noted and the video record would be asked for when deemed necessary.
After the dissolution of the HoR at the Prime Minister’s recommendation on December 20, the political parties, civil society members and legal experts among many others have been saying that the constitution has not granted this authority to the Prime Minister.
The political parties along with the senior legal experts have claimed that there had been a thorough discussion on the issue during the drafting phase of the constitution and reiterating the political stability the PM has not been given the right to dissolve the parliament.
Then Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subhas Nembang also had been telling that the parliament could not be dissolved just because the PM desired so.
However, on Saturday, Nembang, very close to PM Oli had tried to defend the PM’s move.
After the writ petitioners demanded that all petitioners should get the chance to take part in the discussion, Chief Justice Rana has allowed all of them to present their views.
Today, Advocate Santosh Bhandari has argued on behalf of the petitioner. According to the SC sources, the sides would take a turn during the hearing, i.e. first the writ petitioners will argue to show how dissolution is not justifiable and the opponents would come with their reason. Such turn-taking will continue till the logical ending of the discussion.
The constitutional bench at the Supreme Court is hearing the case.
The Constitutional Bench headed by Chief Justice Rana has justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Anil Kumar Sinha, Sapana Malla and Tej Bahadur KC as its members.
Comment