The Supreme Court has upheld the appointments of 52 office-bearers made by the Constitutional Council four years ago.
The appointments were made to various constitutional bodies by the Constitution Council during the tenure of the then-CPN government led by KP Sharma Oli.
The Supreme Court, in a majority decision on Wednesday midnight, dismissed the writ petitions challenging the appointments, thereby validating them.
The bench of Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut and Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Kumar Chudal, and Nahakul Subedi was divided while delivering the verdict, leading to the decision being made by majority.
Justices Malla, Sharma, and Chudal ruled in favor of upholding the appointments, while Chief Justice Raut and Justice Subedi had differing opinions, ruling that the first set of appointments should be annulled but the second set upheld. Due to the split, the majority decision prevailed, validating the appointments.
The bench had previously deliberated on the case all day on June 11. As the discussion could not be concluded, the verdict was scheduled for July 2.
In 2020, the Oli-led government had introduced an ordinance allowing decisions to be made by a majority of the members present at the Constitutional Council meeting.
The Constitutional Council consists of six members: the prime minister, the speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, the chairperson of the National Assembly, the chief justice, and the leader of the main opposition party. Previously, the presence of five members was required for a quorum. However, the Oli government amended this provision to allow meetings to proceed with a majority of members including the chairperson in attendance, and decisions to be made by such meetings by majority vote.
Based on the ordinance, 52 office-bearers were recommended for appointments to constitutional bodies, including the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the Election Commission. The first set of 32 appointments was made on February 3, 2021, and the second set of 20 appointments on June 24, 2021.
Over a dozen writ petitions were filed by senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi, advocate Om Prakash Aryal, and others against the ordinance and the appointments. The hearings began only four years after the petitions were filed.
During Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana’s tenure, the case was listed three times but deferred each time. Rana had also verbally announced his recusal from the case. However, another writ petition was filed, citing the constitutional requirement for the chief justice to be part of the Constitutional Bench. Justice Hari Phuyal’s single bench then issued an order to halt the hearings, which became controversial.
Subsequently, during the tenure of acting Chief Justice Deepak Karki, all writ petitions related to the Constitutional Council ordinance and the 52 appointments were referred to the Constitutional Bench for a joint hearing.
The Supreme Court’s ruling has secured the positions of the following 52 office-bearers:
