KATHMANDU, JULY 24

The writ petition challenging the legitimacy of Koshi Province government will now be heard by the full bench of the Supreme Court.

Today, a joint bench of Justices Sushmalata Mathema and Til Prasad Shrestha ordered the writ petition to be sent to the full bench.

The writ petition was submitted by UML parliamentary party leader Hikmat Karki. It has not been decided whether the full bench will have three or five members.

Lawyers arguing on behalf of the writ petitioner demanded that the case be sent to the Constitutional Bench. The judges of the bench also discussed this.

Chief Justice Harikrishna Karki, who will retire on 5 August, has already announced that he will not sit on the bench and after his retirement, the hearing in the constitutional bench will be delayed. Therefore the order was sent to the full bench, according to a lawyer.

There is a constitutional obligation that the chief justice should be involved in the constitutional bench. In case there is no chief justice, the bench is headed by the senior most justice in the SC.

The full bench of the Supreme Court will start hearing on the case from tomorrow.

In Koshi, Congress Parliamentary Party Leader Uddhav Thapa had used Speaker Baburam Gautam's signature to get majority for government formation.

On the basis of the claim, which also included the name and signature of the speaker, Province Chief Parashuram Khapung appointed Uddhav Thapa as the chief minister of Koshi according to article 168 (2) of the constitution.

In the 93-strong Koshi PA, there were 40 UML members and six Rastriya Prajatantra Party members on one side. The remaining 46 provincial lawmakers from the NC and the CPN-Maoist Centre had supported Thapa.

Since 47 votes are required for majority in the PA, Speaker of Koshi Province Baburam Gautam had supported Thapa as chief minister.

Karki, the leader of the UML parliamentary party, filed a writ in the Supreme Court saying that the speaker was involved in the formation of the government.

Earlier, while hearing the writ, the bench of Judge Sapna Pradhan Malla had given a short-term interim order not to take any decision that would affect the Koshi government in the long term.

Recently, a CPN-UML Secretariat meeting passed a resolution condemning the role of ruling parties and speaker of Koshi Province Assembly in the formation of the new government led by Udhhav Thapa, who represents the Nepali Congress in the Province Assembly.

UML has said that it is accepted practice in Nepal and elsewhere that the speaker remains neutral and does not take sides during formation of the government.

The UML said formation of the new government in Koshi province with the signature of the speaker of Koshi PA was a blatant violation of the constitution, the norms of parliamentary democracy and checks and balances.

The major opposition party has also said that the ruling alliance had infringed the constitution, interfered in constitutional bodies rendering them ineffective, and weakened democracy.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.