Order as demanded in writ petition filed by outgoing Congress MPs seeking restoration of Parliament
What you should know
The Supreme Court has ordered the submission of writ petitions filed by 57 Nepali Congress MPs and outgoing MPs from other parties, including those from the dissolved House of Representatives, along with other petitions.
A bench of Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut, Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Hari Prasad Phuyal, Manoj Kumar Sharma and Nahakul Subedi ordered them to join the writ petition filed by Shyam Prasad Ghimire and others on behalf of the Nepali Congress.
With this order, all the cases related to the dissolution of Parliament will now be heard together. 12 writ petitions filed by legal practitioners and one filed by the CPN-UML are pending in the Supreme Court. Written responses from all the opponents have been submitted to the writ petition filed by the legal practitioners, while written responses are continuing to be received in the writ petitions filed by the UML and the Nepali Congress.
Ghimire, who was the Chief Whip, had initially filed a writ petition on behalf of the Nepali Congress demanding reinstatement. Then, a supplementary petition signed by 57 more MPs was registered with the Supreme Court. The writ petition filed on Mangsir 23 included Ghimire, Sushila Thing, Deepak Khadka, Jabeda Khatun, Sita Rana, Nagina Yadav, Shanti BK and Asha BK. This time, along with the Congress, Goma Labh Sapkota of the Janmat Party, independent MP Yogendra Mandal and Hasina Khatun of the Ashok Rai-led Janata Samajwadi Party have also signed in favor of the restoration of the parliament.
The first hearing of the writ petition filed by the Congress was held on Poush 2 and a show cause order was issued. The constitutional bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut and Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Manoj Kumar Sharma and Nahakul Subedi had issued such an order.
The writ petition has demanded a halt to all election activities. The supplementary petition states, "Since the unconstitutionally appointed Prime Minister Sushila Karki and the government led by her will also be illegal, issue an order prohibiting all activities related to the election."
The writ 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 Parliament Secretariat of the House of Representatives as opposition parties. The writ petition also demands a mandate in the name of the President to form a government as per Article 76 of the Constitution.
It is claimed that after the resignation of the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Bhadra 24, the President unconstitutionally formed a government led by Sushila Karki without starting the process of forming a new government as per Article 76.
Similarly, on November 10, UML Chief Whip Mahesh Bartaula and Whip Sunita Baral had filed a writ petition with the same demand. In the writ petition, the Supreme Court, after the initial hearing, has sought written responses from the opposition parties, including the President and Prime Minister, and ordered the old writ to be kept together.
