The Supreme Court (SC) has been moved against the recent Cabinet expansion by Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli.
Advocates Lokendra Oli, Keshar Jung KC and Dinesh Lamichhane have registered a writ petition against the Cabinet expansion. The petition is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, according to Oli.
Seven ministers from the faction of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal had resigned on December 20 slamming what they called Oli's unconstitutional and undemocratic move to dissolve the House. Oli inducted new ministers to fill the vacant positions on Friday.
The petitioners have demanded immediate revocation of the expansion arguing that the Cabinet has been expanded against the Constitution when the House has already been dissolved.
The petitioners point that a person who is not member of the House of Representatives (HoR) cannot become PM as per Article 77(1) of the Constitution, and argue that the current PM cannot expand the Cabinet when he is not even an HoR member. They add that Article 77(3) of the Constitution requires the existing council of ministers should continue to work until another council of ministers is constituted when the PM ceases to hold the office.
They contend that PM Oli and President Bidya Devi Bhandari have, therefore, violated the Constitution by expanding the Cabinet and demanded revocation of the Cabinet expansion as per Article 133 (2) and (3) of the Constitution.
