The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday has sought reasons for recent Cabinet expansion by Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli after dissolution of the House in writing.
A single bench of Justice Anil Kumar Sinha hearing the writ petition filed by advocates Lokendra Oli, Keshar Jung KC and Dinesh Lamichhane against the Cabinet expansion asked the government to give reasons for the Cabinet expansion and summoned both the sides on January 12 for discussions.
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 December 25.
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.
