KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has ordered to send the writ petition seeking suspension of the special session of the Lumbini Provincial Assembly to the Constitutional Court.
A single bench of Dr. Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, on Wednesday, directed to send the petition filed to adjourn the special session to discuss the no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Shankar Pokhrel.
“The writ petition contains serious constitutional questions including the formation of the Lumbini Province government and the appointment of the chief minister, the summon and termination of the appointment of the province assembly, the motion of no-confidence and its discussion, including the interpretation of Articles 168 and 188 of the Constitution of Nepal,” the bench said, adding, “Hence, it is necessary to look at the values of parliamentary democracy.”
In this writ, the Supreme Court also said that the decision of the two cases of dissolution of the House of Representatives should be taken as a basis and it would be necessary to resolve the dispute from the Constitutional Court.
Opposition parties Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Center, Janata Samajwadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha had filed a no-confidence motion against Lumbini Chief Minister Shankar Pokhrel. As per their demand to discuss the no-confidence motion, the Province Chief Amik Sherchan had called a special session on August 11.
However, CPN-UML province lawmaker Leela Giri had filed a writ petition demanding suspension of the special session.
Interestingly, a no-confidence motion against the chief minister was tabled in a special session of the assembly on the same day as the writ petition was heard. But the no-confidence motion was not taken ahead as Chief Minister Pokhrel resigned prior to the province parliament’s discussion over it.
The Supreme Court has demanded a written reply from the opposition including the Office of the Province Chief and the Secretariat of the Province Assembly.
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