The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court is pronouncing its decision on the writ against the appointment of 52 officials of the Constitutional Commission. According to the amended law through the Ordinance, the constitutional bench is about to hear 15 writs against the appointment of 32 officials on 21st January 2077 and 20 on 10th June 2078.

The constitutional bench started hearing about Pessi moving after not being sent to see it time and time again. The date of the decision is set for Wednesday after the debate on the intervening payments is over. "The bench had issued an order to submit the argument notes to all the advocates by June 16, now the writ will be decided," said Neerajan Pandey, assistant spokesperson of the Supreme Court. 

When appointing the constitutional body both times, the KP Sharma Oli-led government amended the Constitutional Council Act through an ordinance to make the recommendation process more convenient. By amending the legal provisions, the presence of 5 out of 6 members of the Constitutional Council will constitute a quorum and the decision of 4 out of the quorum will be a majority. The ordinance also made a provision that the majority of those present, including the chairman, could make a recommendation.

After the issuance of the ordinance, the Constitutional Council Chairman then Prime Minister Oli, members then Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Jabara and then Speaker of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina held a meeting and recommended it to the Constitutional Commission. 

At that time, the leader of the then main opposition party Sher Bahadur Deuba and Speaker Agni Sapkota were absent from the meeting. The then Prime Minister Oli dissolved the House of Representatives within a few days of recommending the office bearers from the Constitutional Council on 30 November 2077 and 21 Baisakh. The then President Bidya Devi Bhandari gave them the appointment on the basis of the parliamentary rules that if there is no parliamentary hearing within 45 days of the recommendation. 

15 writs were filed against the recommendations and appointments made in the Constitutional Commission from 1 January 2077 to 10 July 2079. The Supreme Court was criticized for delaying the hearing for a long time. The Constitutional Bench headed by Chief Justice Prakashmansingh Raut had ordered to keep all the writs in the 'wait and see' list, saying that the hearing of the case would continue from January 30 until the final decision was reached.

After 11 days of debate, the verdict was ordered to be pronounced on 28th June, before the sitting of the bench on Thursday. The five-member constitutional bench headed by Raut has judges Sapna Pradhan Malla, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Kumar Chudal and Nahkul Subedi. Regarding the appointment of constitutional officials by amending the law through the

ordinance, there was a debate mainly on two questions. First- Does the ordinance that has not been approved by the parliament get the recognition of the law or not? Second, can constitutional appointments be made when there is no parliament for parliamentary hearings? 

The writ petitioners contended that the appointment four years ago was unconstitutional. They argue that the appointment should be annulled as the ordinance has amended the constitution itself. They emphasized that the appointment should be revoked with the argument that the House of Representatives itself was dissolved to circumvent the intention of the constitution that parliamentary hearing should be mandatory and the appointment was made after 45 days based on the rules of the dissolved parliament. They say that after the dissolution of Parliament, the rules will automatically become inactive. 

The other side refuted the arguments of the writ petitioners and insisted that the writ itself should be dismissed. According to the argument of more than 150 advocates of 52 constitutional officials who were made opponents from the Attorney General's Office, who had already set dozens of precedents of the Supreme Court dismissing the writ without further debate because the constitutional appointment was made according to the 'principle of necessity' at that time and the ordinance was not alive. When was

appointed? 

1 January 2077 appointed

- Commission on Abuse of Power

Chief Commissioner Prem Kumar Rai, Commissioners Kishore Kumar Silwal and Jai Bahadur Chand

- Election Commission

Commissioners Ram Prasad Bhandari and Janaki Kumari Tuladhar

- National Human Rights Commission

President Tap Bahadur Magar, members Surya Dhungel, Lily Thapa, Mihir Thakur and Manoj Dawadi

- Women's Commission

Chairman Kamala Parajuli, Members Krishna Kumari Paudel and Vidyakumari Sinha

– Natural Resources and Finance Commission

Members Judd Bahadur Gurung and Amarraj Mishra

– National Dalit Commission

Chairman Devraj Vishwakarma, Members Meena Devi Sob, Tunje Kami and Mehle Parki

– National Inclusion Commission

Members Ramchandra Joshi, Haridatta Joshi

– Tribal Tribes Commission

President Ram Bahadur Thapamagar, members Meen Bahadur Sris, Reena Rana and Sharan Rai

– Madhesi Commission

Members Jeevach Sah, Renudevi Sah and Vijaykumar Gupta

– Tharu Commission

Members Subodh Singh Tharu and Bholaram Chaudhary

– Muslim Commission 

Members Mohammadin Ali and Mirza Arsad Weg

Appointed on 10th June 2078

- Abuse of Power Investigation Commission

Commissioners Hari Poudel and Sumitra Shrestha

- Public Service Commission

Chairman Madhav Prasad Regmi, Members Veer Bahadur Rai, Dinesh Silwal, Madhav Belwase and Manju Kumari

- Election Commission

Commissioner Sagun Shamsher Jabara

– Natural Resources and Finance Commission

Member Bipinraj Niraula

– Women Commission

Members Jaya Ghimire and Savitra Sharma

– Muslim Commission

Member Mohammad Samsul Haque   

– Inclusive Commission

President Ramakrishna Timalsena, members Pushparaj Timilsina and Manprasad Khatri