The Supreme Court has revoked appointment of Uddhav Thapa of Nepali Congress (NC) as the Koshi province chief minister (CM).
The full bench including Justices Ishwore Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Til Prasad Shrestha on Thursday has deemed signing by the speaker to form the government unconstitutional.
The SC has also given seven days to form a new government of two or more than two parties in the province. It has instructed to form a new government under Article 168 (3) of the Constitution if that were not possible.
Outgoing chief minister and CPN-UML parliamentary party leader for Koshi province Hikmat Kumar Karki had filed a petition at the Supreme Court on Friday stating that province chief Parshuram Khapung had appointed Uddhav Thapa of Nepali Congress as the chief minister in an unconstitutional manner.
NC parliamentary party leader Uddhav Thapa was appointed the new chief minister of Koshi province on July 6 with the support of 47 lawmakers from the ruling coalition--29 from NC, 13 including Koshi provincial assembly Speaker Baburam Gautam from CPN (Maoist Center), four from CPN (Unified Socialist) and one from Janata Samajwadi Party.
UML had then moved the SC against the government formation saying it was against the Constitution for the speaker to support a claim for the post of chief minister.
Karki had demanded that Thapa’s appointment be revoked through a certiorari order, arguing that the appointment made as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitutional was illegitimate. He had also demanded a mandamus to pave the way for his appointment as chief minister in accordance with Article 168 (3) of the Constitution.
Koshi province chief Khapung, chief minister Thapa and Koshi provincial assembly Speaker Baburam Gautam were made defendants in the petition.
A single bench of Justice Sapana Malla Pradhan on July 12 has issued an interim order to Koshi’s chief minister Uddhav Thapa to not take any decision that could have a long-term impact until the case was decided.
