Hearing on the case against appointment of CPN Vice-chairman Bam Dev Gautam as National Assembly member by the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court (SC) will continue on Wednesday after gap of over a month.
The constitutional bench including Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumaher Rana, and Justices Dipak Kumar Karki, Hari Krishna Karki, Bishwambhar Shrestha and Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, has been hearing the case since September 30. Hearing on the case has not been done since the first week of October.
The constitutional bench chaired by CJ conducts hearings only on Wednesday and Friday.
The bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai on September 23 had sent the petition filed by senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi to the constitutional bench and issued an interim order to stop implementation of the decision to make Gautam National Assembly member.
"Permanent constitutional values have to be maintained for the long term considering even the principle of constitutional morality," the Supreme Court order on September 23 stated. "An interim order has been issued stating constitutional responsibility not be granted to, or taken by Bam Dev Gautam considering the gravity and constitutional importance as the issue has to be kept as it is until the issue of whether to issue an interim order or not is decided."
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had appointed Gautam to the upper House on September 17 on recommendation of the government to fill the position vacant after Yuba Raj Khatiwada's term ended on March 3 after two years following drawing of lottery.
Gautam had lost the last general election from Bardiya-1 to Sanjay Gautam of the main opposition Nepal Congress (NC).
The petition demands revocation of Gautam's appointment pointing that the practice of taking persons who have lost the election to the National Assembly has increased.
"I have demanded interim order to revoke the recommendation by the Cabinet to appoint him, prohibitory order to stop him from becoming minister and mandamus to issue standards for appointment in the National Assembly," Tripathi had told Setopati after registering the petition on Monday.
