Petition filed against Cabinet expansion

KATHMANDU: Advocate Roshan Jha and Prabhu Chandra Jha on Sunday field a writ petition at the Supreme Court arguing that the recent expansion of the Cabinet was against Article 76 (9) of the new constitution.

The petitioners, who have named the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and Parliament Secretariat as defendants, have said the constitution allowed the prime minister to have only 25 ministers in his Cabinet.

The petitioners have sought interim order urging the court to stop the 15 extra ministers working as ministers.

The petitioners have argued that as per Article 76 (9), the prime minister can only appoint 25 ministers but currently there are 40 ministers in the Cabinet.

The first hearing of the case has been scheduled for Monday.