Supreme Court bars seven Ministers from serving

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has issued an interim order barring seven non-parliamentarian ministers from serving as ministers.

A single bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana Thursday issued an interim order restraining Ministers Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Lekhraj Bhatt, Prabhu Sah, Gauri Shankar Chaudhary, Mani Thapa and Dawa Lama from working in their capacity as Ministers.

All the seven ministers had left the CPN-Maoist center to join the CPN-UML.

The Ministries of Home Affairs (Ram Bahadur Thapa), Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (Top Bahadur Rayamajhi), Industry, Commerce and Supplies (Lekhraj Bhatta), Urban Development (Prabhu Sah), Labor, Employment and Social Security (Gauri Shankar Chaudhary), Drinking Water Supply (Mani Thapa) and Youth and Sports (Dawa Lama) have become vacant following the Supreme Court order.

Advocates Biraj Thapa and Kapil Dev Dhakal had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court, stating that it would be unconstitutional to re-appoint a person who is not a member of parliament as a minister.

The constitution stipulates that a non-parliamentary minister must become a member of parliament within six months. However, the Supreme Court has stated that the re-appointment of those who could not become members of parliament even after becoming a minister is contrary to the provisions of Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution.