Constitutional bench to start with writ jointly filed by 146 lawmakers backing Deuba's claim

KATHMANDU, JUNE 23

The Supreme Court will resume hearing writ petitions filed against the government's move to dissolve of the House of Representatives, today.

A five-member constitutional bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana will begin the hearing process, starting with the writ jointly filed by 146 lawmakers backing Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba's claim to Prime Ministership.

The court on June 9 had issued a show cause notice to the defendants - Office of the President and Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers - seeking explanation on their decision to dissolve the House, within 15 days.

It had decided then that the hearings would resume on June 23.

In response to the courts order, both the Office of the President and that of the Prime Minister have already furnished their respective written responses justifying their steps.

As many as 30 writ petitions have been filed against the House dissolution, including the one that is slated for hearing today.

A five-member strong constitutional bench under CJ Rana, comprising Justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Meera Khadka, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada and Dr Aananda Mohan Bhattarai, will hear the cases.

After some initial issues over composition of the bench, it was reconstituted based on seniority of the Justices that feature in the constitutional bench roster.