Kathmandu: The hearing on cases filed against the dissolution of the House of Representatives has been adjourned until Sunday after two Justices in the Constitutional Bench announced recusing themselves from the bench.
In Tuesday’s session, Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana announced that a new bench will be constituted on the basis of seniority.
Legal practitioners demanded that Justices Bamkumar Shrestha and Tej Bahadur KC should recuse themselves from the bench as they were involved in a controversial verdict over the Nepal Communist Party name dispute case. However, both Justices refused to leave the bench, saying the case had nothing to do with the dissolution of the House of Representatives.
Chief Justice Rana announced the formation of a new bench after Justices Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Deepak Kumar Karki announced that they would recuse themselves from the bench.
Earlier, CJ Rana had agreed to form a Constitutional Bench based on the seniority of Justices. He had agreed to reconstitute the bench during a meeting with representatives of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association Purnaman Shakya said had that the agreement was reached after discussions between CJ Rana and representatives of Supreme Court Bar Association following a dispute over Justices in Constitutional Bench.
The bench will hear 30 writs filed against the dissolution.
Legal practitioners and opposition alliance had moved the court after President Bidhya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives and had announced mid-term elections to be held in two phases. The opposition alliance had moved the court with signatures of 146 lawmakers seeking a mandamus order to reinstate the House of Representatives and appoint Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba as Prime Minister.
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