The Supreme Court has issued a show-cause order in a writ petition filed by outgoing lawmakers of the Nepali Congress, demanding the reinstatement of the House of Representatives.
The petition, registered on December 9 by eight former lawmakers including Shyam Kumar Ghimire, chief whip, and Sushila Thing, whip of the NC parliamentary party in the dissolved House, was heard on Wednesday by the Constitutional Bench.
The bench comprises Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut, senior-most Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla, and Justices Kumar Regmi, Manoj Kumar Sharma, and Nahakul Subedi.
On the first day of the hearing on Wednesday, the bench issued a show-cause order.
The petitioners include outgoing NC lawmakers Asha BK, Deepak Khadka, Sita Kumari Rana, Nagina Yadav, Shanti BK, and Shrawan Kumar Shrestha.
In their petition, they have sought an order to halt all election-related activities.
“Since the House of Representatives election proposed by unconstitutionally appointed Prime Minister Sushila Karki and the government led by her would also be illegal, an order of prohibition should be issued to stop all election-related activities,” the petition states.
The petition names the Office of the President (Sheetal Niwas), Prime Minister Sushila Karki, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Election Commission, the speaker, and the House of Representatives Secretariat as defendants.
It also seeks a writ of mandamus in the name of the president for government formation in accordance with Article 76 of the Constitution.
The petition states that after then-prime minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on September 9, the president should have formed a new government under Article 76. The petitioners claim that the government led by Sushila Karki is prima facie unconstitutional.
The petition argues that Karki’s government violates two articles of the Constitution.
“Since Prime Minister Sushila Karki was appointed despite not being a member of the House of Representatives and without the support of any political party, in violation of Article 76 and Article 132 (2), her appointment is prima facie unconstitutional,” the petitioners argue. “ Therefore, a writ of quo warranto should be issued against her appointment to the post of prime minister.”
The petition also demands that the president’s decision of September 12 to appoint Karki as prime minister, as well as her oath-taking and subsequent appointments, be annulled.
Furthermore, the petitioners demand that the decision of September 12 to dissolve the House of Representatives be annulled and that the House be restored to the state it was in on September 9.
Earlier, outgoing Chief Whip of the CPN-UML Mahesh Bartaula and Whip Sunita Baral had also filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court seeking reinstatement of the House and challenging the government. After the first hearing, the Supreme Court had already issued a show-cause order to the respondents in that case.
Prior to that, more than a dozen writ petitions on the same issue had been filed at the Supreme Court.
