Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana on Wednesday has transferred all 12 writ petitions filed against the House dissolution to the constitutional bench.
Eleven petitions were filed on Monday and two on Tuesday. One of the two filed on Tuesday was registered with the constitutional bench. CJ Rana earlier scheduled the one registered in the constitutional bench for hearing on Friday and heard all the remaining 12 on Wednesday himself.
CJ Rana has transferred all the petitions to the constitutional bench stating that it is related to constitutional issue, petitioner of one of the 12 petitions heard Wednesday advocate Lokendra Oli told Setopati.
One of the petitioners Kanchan Krishna Neupane, and senior advocates Krishna Prasad Bhandari, Harihar Dahal and Shambhu Thapa made their arguments before CJ Rana on Wednesday demanding an interim order against what they called unconstitutional House dissolution.
Constitutional disputes can be registered with both regular bench and constitutional bench. But cases related to the same dispute are heard together. Hearing for the 12 petitions will now be held together with the one registered with the constitutional bench on Friday.
CJ Rana will pick four other justices to accompany him in the five-strong constitutional bench from the roster of 10 justices prepared by the Apex Court.
Deepak Karki, Meera Khadka, Hari Krishna Karki, Bishwambhar Shrestha, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, Anil Sinha, Prakash Singh Raut and Sapana Pradhan Malla are in the roster of 10 justices, according to Assistant Spokesperson of SC Devendra Dhakal.
The Constitution does not have clear provision about House dissolution. Article 85(1) of the Constitution states 'Except when dissolved earlier, the term of House of Representatives shall be five years.'
Some constitutional experts argue that the Constitution envisions House dissolution due to the use of term 'dissolved earlier'. But others argue that the provision has been kept for the situation of inability to choose the PM.
Article 76(7) states 'If the Prime Minister appointed according to clause (5) fails to get the vote of confidence or if any member fails to be appointed as Prime Minister, the President shall, on the recommendation of Prime Minister, dissolve the House of Representatives and fix a date to conduct another election within six months.'
