HOUSE DISSOLUTION 2.0
KATHMANDU, JULY 02
Private lawyers representing the government ended their oral submission before the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court arguing that the dissolution of the House of Representatives was right as there was no possibility of forming a new government under Article 76(5) of the constitution.
The pleading by the government side had commenced with Attorney General Ramesh Badal putting his statement on the matter on Monday and the party was given 15 hours to put forth the views.
The public prosecutor and the prime minister's lawyer debated for seven hours. Now, the turn goes to the speaker's lawyer who has been given one hour. There will be a debate on behalf of the speaker on Sunday.
The hearing on the writ petition is taking place before the constitutional bench that comprises Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Jabra and Judges Deepak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai.
Advocates representing the government side argued HoR was dissolved by exercising the right granted by the constitution.
The writ petitioners' side will reply after the speaker's legal practitioner conclude the arguments.
A time of three hours has been fixed for that and it will be followed by the turn of an amicus curie and two hours time has been fixed for that. Then, the SC is expected to give its verdict on the case. The pleading of legal practitioners on behalf of the petitioners had concluded on Sunday and they were given 12 hours to put forth their arguments.
It should be noted that 146 members in the dissolved HoR, including the Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, had reached the court, demanding restoration of the HoR and appointment of Deuba as the prime minister in accordance with the Article 76 (5) of the constitution.
A total of 30 writs were registered at the court over this matter, seeking to rescind the president's May 22 move to dissolve the HoR and announce snap polls on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 3, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
