KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) of Nepal on Tuesday issued a show-cause order in the name of the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) and directed it to be present with a written explanation regarding Cabinet expansion on January 12.

A single bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha issued the notice seeking reason behind the expansion of Council of Ministries.

A hearing to this effect will take place on January 13 a day after the OPMCM forges a written clarification as per the apex court order.

On December 27, advocate Kanchan Krishna Neupane had registered a writ petition at the apex court arguing that the Cabinet expansion breached Nepal’s Constitution-2072.

It is stated in the writ petition that the Cabinet expansion took place against the provision on the formation of Council of Ministries enshrined Article 76 (9) of Constitution, which states ‘The President at the recommendation of the Prime Minister will form the Council of Ministries with 25 ministers in full capacity including the Prime Minister as per the principle of proportionality from among the members of the Federal Parliament’.

The split of four ministries for the Cabinet expansion at a time when the government is falling short of providing relief to those affected by the April and May earthquakes will inflict an annual additional financial burden of around Rs 6 billion on the state coffers, the petition stated.