Kathmandu, December 14:

Legal experts today said that the present government and the parliament will lose legitimacy from Sunday if they fail to amend the Interim Constitution of Nepal-2007 by tomorrow.

“They have lost legitimacy and now they cannot justify their continuing in power,” former president of Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, told this daily.

“Now we have to look for options because the government and the interim parliament have failed to hold the election to constituent assembly in the stipulated time,” Thapa, who was a member of the Interim Constitution Drafting Committee, added.

“They should not continue in power from Sunday,” Thapa said.

Thapa said the provisions under Part 4 Articles 33 to Article 38 under the Directive Principles and Polices of the State in the Interim Constitution are also constitutional provisions and they are mandatory for the government and the parliament. “These provisions are taken as equal to the fundamental rights of the people; thus they must be followed,” he added

Article 33 (A) of the Interim Constitution states that the state shall hold the elections to a constituent assembly by December 29.

Former Supreme Court justice Krishna Jung Rayamajhi also said that the provision under Article 33 (A) is mandatory for the state.

According to him, the SC had interpreted several times that the state should function under the Directive Principles of the state machinery as the provisions there are supposed to guide the state.

“Though these provisions are not enforceable by a court of law, the government must be guided by it,” Rayamajhi added.

“It seems that the seven-party alliance and the leaders have been thinking that they are above the Interim Constitution and they are not ready to abide by the rule of law and the constitution,” Rayamajhi added.