KATHMANDU: All eyes are on the Supreme Court after President Bidya Bhandari dissolved the parliament on the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Executive Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal in his political proposal submitted at the Secretariat Committee meeting on November 13 had accused Prime Minister Oli of ‘trying to dissolve the parliament by calling the head of the judiciary to his residence and declaring a state of emergency’.
In the context when the date for the mid-term poll has been announced following the parliament dissolution by the Oli-led government, now the right to decide the fate of the announced elections and the reinstatement of the parliament rests with the Supreme Court.
As many as 13 writ petitions have been filed at the SC against the parliament dissolution seeking a stay order on the government decision as of Tuesday evening.
One of them has been scheduled to be heard by a constitutional bench on Friday.
Chief Justice Rana has the key role for the final verdict on all the writ petitions filed which will ultimately decide the fate of the dissolved parliament.
According to Baburam Dahal of the Litigation Department of the SC, a single bench of justice will hear 12 cases out of 13 filed at the apex court today.
A single bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana has been designated to look after 12 writs registered against the Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s recent move of dissolving the House of Representatives (HoR).
The writs were registered at the Supreme Court against the decision naming the Office of the President, Office of the Prime Minster and Council of Ministers and House Speaker as defendants.
Advocate Prabesh KC had registered a writ on Tuesday on behalf of the members of dissolved House of Representatives including Dev Prasad Gurung, Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, Shashi Shrestha and Ram Kuamri Jhankri while other legal practitioners also challenged the executive’s move at the apex court.
The writs registered so far to this effect have demanded revoking of all the decisions and actions carried out in regard to the dissolution of the HoR as per the Article 133 (2 and 3) of the Nepal Constitution.
Twelve out of 13 writs challenging the decision of HoR dissolution have been registered in the general bench.
The hearing on the writs is beginning from today. The writ registered on the constitutional bench has been scheduled for hearing on coming Friday.
Rana who entered the judicial service through the additional judge of the then appellate court on April 15, 1996, had been appointed as the Chief Justice of Nepal on January 2, 2019.
Rana’s verdict on the present issue is so crucial that it does not only resolve the present imbroglio rather it will determine the future course of politics of Nepal.
One of the writ petitions being heard today has been filed by four lawmakers. They are Dev Gurung, Krishan Bhakta Pokharel, Shashi Shrestha and Ram Kumari Jhankri.
In the writ petition, they have argued that the parliament dissolution has violated the fundamental rights to serve the people for a five-year term.
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