SC issues show cause notice to Vice President Jha

KATHMANDU:The Supreme Court today issued a show cause notice to Vice President Paramananda Jha for holding the post without taking another oath in Nepali.

A single bench of Justice Bharat Raj Upreti issued the notice following today’s hearing. The bench also told the defendants — President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, PM Madhav

Kumar Nepal, VP Jha, the Constituent Assembly Secretariat, the PM’s Office and the Cabinet — to attend the hearing on August 11.

After the hearing, the apex court will decide whether or not to issue a stay order.

The bench also sought written explanation from the defendants within 15 days on why VP Jha was not abiding by the apex court order.

The SC on July 24 had termed that VP Jha’s oath in Hindi language unconstitutional and asked him to take a fresh oath in Nepali.

On July 28, a writ petition was filed seeking the court order to oust VP Jha through its quo warranto order stating that he had been holding the post unconstitutionally as the apex court already scrapped his oath taken a year ago.

Two persons — Nava Raj Neupane and Bishnu Prasad Banstola — had moved the court seeking its intervention to make the VP abide by its order. They insisted that Jha possessed no authority to hold the post as he breached the Constitution as well.