Reinstate Lower House‚ Speaker urges SC

SAGUN S LAWOTI

KATHMANDU: Speaker Tara Nath Ranabhat furnishing a written reply at the Supreme Court today suggested that the House of Representatives should be reinstated. “One cannot interpret prime minister’s prerogative (to dissolve the House) in a one-sided manner,” the Speaker has stated in the reply adding, no crises, constitutional or otherwise, had arose for the prime minister to recommend the dissolution of the House of Representatives. Speaker Ranabhat in the reply, registered a few minutes before the Supreme Court closed at 5 pm on Tuesday, emphasised the need to seek a resolve through Article 88(2) of the Constitution. The constitutional provision confers “extraordinary power” on the apex court to “issue necessary and appropriate orders” to enforce fundamental rights or settle the dispute of any constitutional or legal question involved in any dispute of public interest or concern. The Speaker, in his reply has also highlighted the need to “clearly spell out” the constitutional provisions concerning the dissolution of the Lower House. “There was no point and relevance in making me a defendant,” Ranabhat has further stated in his written response. The Speaker, prime minister and the council of ministers are among the defendants in the petition filed seeking restoration of the Lower House. In a separate petition, advocates Shyam Kumar Khattri,S ushil Chandra Poudel and Badri Subedi, 56 outgoing NC MPs and five outgoing MPs of the NPF and UPF have sought reinstatement of the House of Representatives.