KATHMANDU, July 12: The Constitutional Bench presided by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR is likely to pass its final verdict on parliament dissolution case on Monday.
The five-member bench, comprising senior most justices of the Supreme Court, heard the writ petitions seeking the reinstatement of the House of Representatives (HoR), which was dissolved for the second time by President Bidya Devi Bhandari at the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Oli on May 22.
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The bench comprises justices Dipak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai along with CJ Rana. As the hearing was concluded a week ago on July 5, the bench was earlier adjourned until Monday. The court is expected to pass the verdict today itself.
The ongoing hearing on the parliament dissolution case drew to the conclusion as legal practitioners representing the writ petitioners concluded their counter debate earlier last week.
A four-member amicus curiae, which comprises senior advocates Raghavlal Baidya and Usha Malla Pathak from Nepal Bar Association and Komal Prakash Ghimire and Prakash Bahadur KC representing the Supreme Court Bar Association, also presented its opinion on the case. The amicus curiae was allotted two hours to help the constitutional bench issue its final verdict through the individual opinion of the members.
More than two dozen writ petitions have been filed at the Supreme Court challenging the May 22 House dissolution move taken by President Bidya Devi Bhandari at the recommendation of the Oli-led Cabinet.
Earlier, a 12-hour long pleading from the petitioners’ side was followed by the debate by lawyers, who pleaded on behalf of defendants including the Office of President and Prime Minister for 15 hours. The lawyers representing plaintiffs again presented their counter arguments for the remaining three hours on Sunday and Monday.
