Kathmandu, August 3:

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet today told the Supreme Court that taking the Vice-President Paramananda Jha’s act of taking the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi is a political matter and there is no need to make it an issue.

Submitting a written explanation to the SC, the PMO claimed that there was no need for apex court intervention as the issue was not constitutional.

Secretary Madav Paudel submitted the explanation on behalf of the PMO, saying that since Jha had signed a copy of the text prepared in Nepali, there was no need to make this an issue.

He urged the apex court to quash the petition, saying that petitioner Bal Krishna Neupane had made the PMO the defendant without any reason. Last week, the apex court had issued a show cause notice to Vice-President Jha and the PMO to clarify why Jha took the oath of office in Hindi.

Nepuane had filed the writ petition claiming that the Vice-President cannot take the oath of office and secrecy crossing the limits as mentioned in article 31 (I) and schedule 3 (1 C) of the Interim Constitution.